1997

Mary Ann Cessna, for Teaching
Maurice Kilwein Guevara, for Creative Arts
Krys Kaniasty, for Research
Richard Magee, University Professor
Darlene Richardson, for Service

For Teaching, Mary Ann Cessna
Dr. Mary Ann Cessna believes teaching is a combination of guiding, facilitating, motivating, and mentoring students and that truly excellent teachers are the "guide on the side" and not the "sage on the stage." Perhaps the best metaphor for her approach to teaching is that she provides a NEST for her students. Her classes are ones in which she nurtures and empowers students while providing structure and teamwork.

Dr. Cessna has not only demonstrated exceptional performance in the classroom but has also become a role model for faculty and students. She accomplished this through leadership as Director of the IUP Center for Teaching Excellence, through her commitment to the IUP Reflective Practice Project, and through her role as model teacher and mentor for the students in her courses.

To quote one of her students: "Dr. Cessna's approach to teaching and learning represents a love for the profession which is seldom seen...her favorite saying defines her well: To teach is to touch a life forever."

Back to top

For Creative Arts, Maurice Kilwein Guevara
Born in Colombia and raised in Pittsburgh, Dr. Maurice Kilwein Guevara created a collection of short stories for his doctoral dissertation at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

In 1994, his first full-length volume of poetry, Postmortem, was chosen from 470 manuscripts as winner of the National Contemporary Poetry Series Competition sponsored by the University of Georgia Press. Reviews have compared his work to the poetry of Frederico Garcia Lorca with an underlying ironic humor. Postmortem has been nominated for the National Book Award, the Juan Rulfo Prize (Mexico), and the L. A. Times Book Award. The first printing sold out.

Dr. Kilwein Guevara's second collection of poems, Poems of the River Spirit, was published by the University of Pittsburgh Press in 1996. These poems draw on the poet's experience in western Pennsylvania and on the immigrant and labor history of working people. It has received positive reviews and has been nominated for a number of prestigious awards.

Professor Kilwein Guevara has published over 25 individual pieces since coming to IUP in 1991. These include articles, short stories, poems, performance scripts, literary translations, and book reviews. His work is now being collected in anthologies such as Touching The Fire: Latino Poetry at the Turn of the Century, to be published by Anchor/Doubleday in the fall of 1997.  

Of his work Dr. Kilwein Guevara has said, "This performance aesthetic grows out of a belief that poetry...can exercise an important social function as an agent to build communities. This is why my teaching and poetry dovetail quite naturally."

Back to top

For Research, Krys Kaniasty
Dr. Krys Kaniasty has a truly outstanding record of scholarship. He completed his dissertation in 1991 during his first year at IUP, and that work was honored as "Best Dissertation of the Year" by the community Psychology Division of the American Psychological Association.  

Dr. Kaniasty has continued to produce important and widely recognized work: during the past few years, he has published extensively, has been invited to present at regional, national, and international meetings, and has won National Institute of Mental Health research grants. His work is often included in publications of other scholars and in textbooks in diverse areas, including general, social, community, and environmental psychology.  

Dr. Kaniasty is best known for his work in two main areas: social support theory and coping with life stressors. His scholarly work examines social support and helping processes in the context of coping with stressful life events at both the individual and community levels. He has studied coping among groups that range from victims of disasters and crime to those who have suffered job loss.  

Dr. Kaniasty shares his intellectual pursuits with colleagues and, notably, with students at IUP. He supervises both doctoral dissertations and undergraduate honors theses. Each of the undergraduate students Dr. Kaniasty has mentored has presented his or her research at regional or national meetings.

Back to top

University Professor, Richard Magee
Richard D. Magee of the Department of Psychology has been named University Professor for 1997-1998. Professor Magee earned his doctorate in 1964 from Temple University. He joined the IUP faculty in 1968 after teaching psychology for seven years at Lebanon Valley College.  

Dr. Magee is recognized by both his students and peers as an outstanding teacher who has the "ability to communicate complex material in a clear and charismatic manner." His teaching is mostly at the graduate level in the area of family therapy, and he has been the major advisor for eight doctoral students. He received an honorary Doctor of Pedagogy degree from Lebanon Valley College. Besides being an outstanding classroom instructor, he has made a major contribution to the Psychology Department by introducing and developing a training program in family therapy.

Dr. Magee enjoys a national reputation in the area of family therapy. He has published frequently in this area and has given many presentations at national conferences on marriage and family therapy. He is one of two editors of a volume on Ethical and Legal Issues in Professional Practice with Families to be published by Wiley Publishing Company. Dr. Magee has received grants from a variety of sources, including the Human Services Development Fund, Children and Youth Services, and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. He has reviewed several books and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for the Journal of Marriage and Family Therapy.

Besides his teaching, Dr. Magee is probably known best for his outstanding service to IUP and his community. He serves as Director of the Center for Applied Psychology and as Director of the Family Clinic, which has evolved under his leadership into a major community mental health resource. The clinic receives some fifty to seventy-five referrals a year.  

Dr. Magee has been involved in family/school consultation projects in Marion Center Elementary School, Marion Center High School, the Penns Manor School District, and Purchase Line High School. He was instrumental in developing a community treatment program for men who abuse their spouses. He has given many workshops and lectures on family issues in the ’90s to a variety of community groups.  

Dr. Magee has served as a Clinical Psychologist for IUP Counseling Services and the Indiana County Guidance Center and has a part-time private practice. In 1984 he received the IUP Faculty Community Service Award, and in 1991 he was recognized with the IUP College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Outstanding Service Award.

Back to top

For Service, Darlene Richardson
Dr. Darlene Richardson has made more than fifteen years of exceptional contributions to IUP. Her work is represented at all levels of university life: within her department, her college, and the university as a whole. Dr. Richardson has served, for example, as chair of numerous committees within the Geoscience Department and in many capacities as a member of the University Senate and APSCUF. She has also shared her considerable and varied talents with the IUP community in unique ways. For example, she organized an exhibit at the University Museum entitled "Our Mother's Quilts." The exhibit was the best attended of any IUP museum exhibit, and Dr. Richardson contributed an essay and three quilts to the show. 

The following spring, Dr. Richardson was coordinator of the Provost's mini-symposium on "Global Survival?  Scientific Aspects of Environmental Challenges." The symposium was attended by hundreds and included nationally known experts on a variety of environmental issues.  

More broadly still, and prior to her appointment as director of Liberal Studies, Dr. Richardson secured funding for workshops on cooperative learning that more than 150 of her colleagues have attended. Through this effort, she has improved the teaching and learning on this campus.  

In her position as Director of Liberal Studies, Dr. Richardson consistently has gone above and beyond the position requirements to enrich the educational environment at IUP. Her many fine contributions have been recognized by others: in 1993, she was awarded the College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics Outstanding Achievement Award.

Back to top