Distinguished Service Award winners for 2005: Thomas C.
DeVore, Barbara Stern, Daniel G. Gallagher and Mary B. Kimsey-Tacy.
2005 Distinguished Service Awards presented at James
Madison Day 2005
Story by Nicole Maier (Õ05)
Four professors from the College
of Education, College
of Business, College
of Integrated Science and
Technology, and College of Science
and Mathematics were recognized for exceptional professionally related service
at the university, local and national levels during James Madison Day
activities in March 2005.
Thomas C. DeVore
Already a recipient of the LaRose Fellowship and a
Madison Scholar, Thomas C. DeVore, Professor of Chemistry, has now earned the
Distinguished Service award for his college. ÒThere are several people in the
College of Science and Mathematics who have had long careers devoted to serving
this university, so it was an honor to just be nominated,Ó says DeVore.
ÒI really did not expect to win.Ó
Inside the JMU community, DeVore has served on a number
of committees such as the Gen Ed council as well as being advisor to various
student organizations, most recently AXE,
the professional chemistry fraternity. Since 1992, he has been the director of
the Shenandoah Valley Regional Science Fair and since 1993 the Virginia Junior
Science and Humanities Symposium. Outside JMU, he has served for the past
twenty years on the Virginia Section ACS
Executive Committee and has been active with the Virginia Academy of Sciences.
In 1977, DeVore joined the university faculty with
confidence. ÒJMU was an exciting place to be in the late 70Õs,Ó says DeVore.
ÒThere had just been a period of rapid growth and there was a great deal of
optimism and enthusiasm about the future. It was clear it was going to be
a great place to work.Ó Here he found that both students and faculty,
Òwere friendly and got non-competitive and seemed to like each other. I
appreciated this atmosphere.Ó Since then, he has continued to be pleased by the
students and faculty that he works with daily.
Daniel G. Gallagher
Daniel G. Gallagher, Professor of Management in the College
of Business, earned his Ph.D. at
the University of Illinois
in Labor and Industrial Relations. While working his first job at the University
of Iowa, a radio show sparked his
interest in coming to JMU. ÒOne very cold March night in Iowa City, Iowa I was
listening to the Prairie Home Companion, and I heard Robin and Linda Williams
telling Garrison Kellior how the flowers where coming into bloom in the
beautiful Shenandoah Valley,Ó says Gallagher. ÒSounded like a good place to
be.Ó
For 17 years Gallagher has been part of the JMU
faculty. He has received a number of awards for his research and teaching and
holds the CSX Professorship in Management.
Gallagher is a member of editorial boards for four distinguished research
journals in addition to reviewing other journals from throughout the globe. He
helps determine manuscriptsÕ suitability for publication and coaches authors on
how to make improvements to their work. ÒIt takes a great deal of time, it is
important to the academic profession, but it is often overlooked in how faculty are evaluated,Ó says Gallagher. ÒSo the Award was
especially nice to have received.Ó
Gallagher is most pleased by the College
of BusinessÕs openness to change.
ÒWhen people have some good suggestions for course or program changes, it is
most often the case that progress can be made.Ó
Barbara S. Stern
Barbara S. Stern, professor of secondary education,
works as a reviewer and editor a number of scholarly journals including most
recently the Curriculum and Teaching
Dialogue by the American Association of Teaching and Curriculum.
In 1988, Stern earned the
American History Teacher of the Year award, in Seminole County,
Fla. She was also named Seminole County Council of the Social
Studies 1991 Teacher of the Year. In 2002, she earned the Social Studies Fellow
Award from The National Technology Leadership Initiative and published ÒSocial
Studies: Standards, Meanings and Understanding,Ó in New York: Eye on
Education.
ÒThis is a good place to work in terms of
collegiality,Ó says Stern, who is in her seventh year at Madison.
ÒPeople are friendly and are working towards a common goal.Õ
Mary B. Kimsey-Tacy
In recognition for her exemplary professionally related
service within and beyond the university community, Dr. Mary B. Kimsey-Tacy is
the 2005 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award presented by the College
of Integrated Science and
Technology. In 1990, Kimsey-Tacy was offered positions at JMU and a university
in North Carolina. ÒIn terms of
physical environments, I had to decide between the beach and the
mountains. I love both so chose JMU
because of its reputation,Ó says Kimsey-Tacy. ÒThis is my fourteenth year which
I figure is about half-way through my career here. I have never regretted my decision.Ó
While at JMU, Kimsey-Tacy has worked to bring global
courses to students in all majors and is now in her third year as director of
CISATÕs International program. For the past fourteen years she has volunteered
with organizations that work with refugees and other migrants in the Shenandoah
Valley and has successfully encouraged many of her students to
become involved in similar service activities.
ÒI have tried to instill a service ethic in my students
because I learned it while an undergraduate student at the University
of Cincinnati,Ó says Kimsey-Tacy.
ÒTeaching English to immigrants and working with a university environmental
organization were some of the service activities of my undergraduate days that
greatly influenced my career choices.Ó
