News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu Spring 2004 news releases Public Information home News archive Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 8/23/04   Click on image for publication quality photo SOUTHEASTERN PRESIDENT’S AWARDS – Southeastern Louisiana University President Randy Moffett, left, and Provost John Crain, right, congratulate the 2004 recipients of the President's Awards for Excellence, Southeastern’s most prestigious faculty and staff honors. From left, are Mary Lou Coats, staff service; Linda Munchausen, faculty service; Alison Pelegrin, artistic activity; and Karen Hill, teaching. Not shown is Andrew Traver, research. SOUTHEASTERN PRESENTS TOP AWARDS TO FACULTY, STAFF      HAMMOND – Four Southeastern Louisiana University professors and a staff member have been awarded the university's most prestigious honor, the President=s Award for Excellence, in the areas of research, teaching, artistic activity and service.      The recipients, recognized at the university's August 20 faculty/staff convocation, are Karen Hill, associate professor of nursing, teaching; Andrew Traver, associate professor of history, research; Alison Pelegrin, instructor of English, artistic activity; Linda Munchausen, professor of chemistry, faculty service; and Mary Lou Coats, University Advancement accountant and gift historian, staff service.      Hill, Pelegrin, Munchausen and Coats are Southeastern graduates.      Hill, a member of the faculty since 1987, has been praised for her “multifaceted, academically challenging and inspiring” approach to nursing instruction.       “The scenarios she creates are engaging and allow students to apply clinical decision-making and critical thinking,” said Donnie Booth, dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences. “In essence, she prepares her students for the future by preparing them for real life situations.”      “I am always thinking of new ways to present material so it is more realistic and easier to learn,” said Hill, who also holds a master’s degree in nursing from Louisiana State University and a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction from the University of New Orleans. “I welcome the feedback provided by students on our courses and teaching evaluations. I use this information to make changes in the courses.”      Hill was recently recognized by the Louisiana State Nurses Association with the Nightingale Award for Nurse Educator of the Year in 2004. Both the fall 2003 and spring 1999 graduating classes selected her for the School of Nursing’s Mentor Award. In addition, the Tangipahoa District Nurses’ Association. awarded her the 2001 Outstanding Nurse Award.      Traver earned his doctoral degree from the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto and has been a member of Southeastern’s history faculty for eight years.       Since 1995, he has been the member of a team of international researchers examining the writings of John Duns Scotus, one of the most important and influential, but least studied, of the medieval philosopher-theologians. Scotus, considered to be as historically significant as Thomas Aquinas and William Ockham, left his life’s work in disarray when he died at an early age in 1308.       The goal of the Scotus Project, headquartered at Catholic University of the Americas in Washington, D.C., is to bring order and accuracy to Scotus’ writings and to publish them in good critical editions that will form the basis for all future translations, scholarship and teaching.      Traver also has written a book on another little known medieval theologian, William of Saint-Amour; a biographical dictionary covering significant lives from 800 B.C.-500 A.D.; a reader for Southeastern Western Civilization courses; 78 encyclopedia entries; and numerous scholarly presentations. He teaches courses on the Middle Ages, Greece and Rome.        Pelegrin is an award-winning poet who has published three books, “Dancing with the One-Armed Man,” “Voodoo Lips,” and “The Zydeco Tablets.”      "The quality of her verse is first rate and I would rank it with the writing of the best young poets currently working anywhere," said her former teacher Tim Gautreaux, an award-winning author and writer in residence at Southeastern.      After completed both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Southeastern in 1996, Pelegrin earned a master of fine arts degree in creative writing at the University of Arkansas in 2000. She returned to her alma mater in 2001.      Her poems, many of which are inspired by Louisiana culture, have been published in national journals such as “Nimrod,” “Prairie Schooner” and “The Iowa Review.” She also received the prestigious Slipstream Chapbook Award and was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Pelegrin has received an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Louisiana Division of the Arts as well as two earlier artist mini grants. She recently completed another book of poems titled “Squeezers.”       A 30-year veteran chemistry professor and former head of the chemistry and physics department, Munchausen is praised for positively influencing Southeastern students while showcasing the university’s strengths throughout the state. She is now coordinator of education initiatives for the College of Arts and Sciences where she acts as the liaison between her college and the College of Education and Human Development.       Among her many service contributions, she increased rapport with state medical and dental schools as a member of the College of Arts and Science’s Medical Evaluation Committee and has been president of the Louisiana Academy of Sciences and the Southeastern Faculty Senate.      Munchausen, said Dan McCarthy, head of the chemistry and physics department, “is the first one to volunteer for off-campus activities, such as judging science fairs, and she was the motivation behind the extremely successful Science Olympiad,” a statewide competition for high school and middle school students now held annually at Southeastern. Collaborating with mathematics and industrial technology faculty, she was also instrumental in establishing the Integrated Science and Technology (ISAT) master’s degree program, the only such program in the state.       Known as an enthusiastic advocate of science who answers her office telephone, “Better living through chemistry,” Munchausen serves on the advisory board for the GEAR-UP grant program, and coordinates the College of Arts and Sciences summer science adventure camps.      Coats has volunteered to help stage numerous events at Southeastern since joining the staff in the early 1980s. She coordinated Chefs Evening, the Southeastern Development Foundation’s popular annual fundraiser, from 1986-2002. She also has leant her organizational and decorating talents to activities from Rock ‘n Roar and Homecoming to Golden Silence and the Sweet 16 basketball tournament.       “Mary Lou is one of the most creative people I have ever worked with,” said Jackie Dale Thomas, director of leadership development and student activities. “She is a tremendous asset to Southeastern in so many ways. Her patience in dealing with all types of people on so many different levels is tremendous. She always demonstrates grace under pressure.”      Coats also works with the Alumni Association’s Tangi Chapter and the Fe-Lions (Female Enthusiasts for Southeastern Athletics), and annually recruits other volunteers to help staff the registration desk at campus-hosted Special Olympics.       “I feel that anything I can do is a privilege considering all that Southeastern has done for me,” she said.