06/14/93

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Three honored with Gores awards for teaching

STANFORD -- A history professor, a lecturer in Humanities and Sciences and a teaching fellow in Spanish and Portuguese received Walter J. Gores awards for excellence in teaching at Stanford commencement ceremonies Sunday, June 13.

The winners were James Sheehan, Dickason Professor in the Humanities; Kathleen Namphy, lecturer in English and in Humanities and Sciences; and Susan Marie Dever, a doctoral candidate and teaching fellow in Spanish and Portuguese.

Sheehan, a specialist in modern German history, was honored "for his remarkable ability to synthesize and present a vast array of individual ideas in a clear and coherent framework" and "for cheerfully going the extra mile, in the classroom and out, for the sake of his students."

Sheehan was cited "for the passion and the cogency, the erudition and the trenchancy of his legendary noteless lectures" and for "the warmth of his conviction that everything has a history, and his commitment never to give less than his best."

Namphy was recognized for "extending her teaching beyond the classroom through weekly meetings with freshman writing students" and "for nurturing the intellectual lives of her students both in and out of the classroom."

With her "contagious love of the classics," the citation said, Namphy has inspired her students to a lifelong love of classical learning.

Namphy, who has taught at Stanford since her graduate student days here - she earned a doctorate in English literature and humanities in 1977 - was cited "for providing generations of Stanford students with fond memories of her intellectual rigor and caring warmth."

In 1982, Namphy received a Dinkelspiel award for outstanding service to undergraduate education.

Dever, whose emphasis in her graduate work has been in Chicano studies, was cited "for designing and offering a variety of innovative language, cinema, feminist and literature courses in Chicano and Mexican culture" and "for interweaving thematic and historical concerns in a creative manner which respects traditional works as well as recent literary and theatrical productions."

Dever was recognized for her "devotion to students that encourages and draws out each student's ideas and viewpoints" and "for supplementing classes with weekly dinners, trips and community events which immerse students in the cultures they are studying."

Three Gores awards are given annually for excellence in teaching at Stanford: one to a senior faculty member, one to a junior faculty member and one to a teaching fellow or assistant. A fourth award may be given for a special innovative contribution to teaching.

The awards are named for Professor Walter J. Gores, a member of the Stanford class of 1917.

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