Psychology professor receives international educator award
LAWRENCE — University of Kansas Professor Glenn Adams is the 2018 recipient of the George and Eleanor Woodyard International Educator Award. The award presentation will take place at 3:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10, in Alderson Auditorium at the Kansas Union.
The award, coordinated by the Office of International Programs, was endowed by the late George Woodyard, the first dean of international studies, and his wife, Eleanor. It recognizes faculty on the Lawrence campus who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in strengthening KU's international dimension in such areas as curriculum development, study abroad programs, relationships with international partner institutions and collaboration with international colleagues in significant research and publications. The award includes a $1,000 stipend.
Adams began contributing to international education at KU when he joined the Department of Psychology in 2001. His teaching and research in cultural psychology are informed by his international engagement efforts, and he has mentored students interested in international studies from a broad range of disciplines. He has been very active in KU’s African studies community. Adams has served as acting director, associate director and executive committee member of the Kansas African Studies Center (KASC) and played a significant role in organizing or supervising the visits of Africanist scholars, researchers and educators. He has helped organize academic conferences at KU that contributed to the development of KASC’s intellectual community, and he also founded and has continued the annual KASC Graduate Workshop, which enables doctoral students to receive extensive feedback on their dissertations.
One of his nominators said, “I benefited personally from his efforts and dedication to African studies over the years, but the key is that, in fact, so many KU faculty and graduate students, as well as faculty and graduate students in the region, have also benefited.”
International graduate and postgraduate students from Armenia, Brazil, Guatemala, India, Turkey and the United Kingdom have joined the Social Psychology Program in order to work with Adams. Many other international students from within and outside the psychology department have attended the Culture and Psychology Research Group in order to participate in the kind of international scholarship Adams exemplifies, one of his nominators wrote.
“Glenn Adams stood out in a very competitive pool of nominees as a well-rounded and deeply committed international educator who has made every effort to internationalize educational opportunities for students in his discipline and beyond,” said Megan Greene, director of Faculty Programs. “We are delighted to be able to present him with this award.”
Past recipients of the award (formerly known as the Provost's Award for Leadership in International Education) are Mahasweta Banerjee, social welfare (2017); Brent Metz, anthropology (2016); Christopher Brown, environmental studies and geography (2015); Megan Greene, history (2014); Jon Havener, visual art (2013); Erik Herron, political science (2012); Raj Bhala, law (2011); Peter Herlihy, geography (2010); Elizabeth Kuznesof, history (2009); Ed Canda, social welfare (2008); Bill Tsutsui, history (2007); John Head, law (2006); Anita Herzfeld, Latin American studies (2005); Marsha Haufler, art history (2004); Garth Myers, geography and African-American studies, and Robert Timm, ecology & evolutionary biology (2003); Melissa Birch, business, and Diane Fourny, French and European studies (2002); Judith McCrea, art and design (2001); Leo Villalon, political science and African and African-American studies (2000); Tom Mulinazzi, civil, environmental & architectural engineering, and Charles Stansifer, history (1999).
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