LAWRENCE — University of Kansas seniors have selected five faculty members as finalists for the 2010 HOPE (Honor for an Outstanding Progressive Educator) Award.

The finalists will be honored at a private reception Tuesday, Nov. 16, in the Kansas Union. The winner will be announced Saturday, Nov. 20, after first quarter of the KU-Oklahoma State University football game in Memorial Stadium.

The finalists are

— Kerry E. Benson, lecturer in journalism
— Francis Bernard “Bernie” Kish, lecturer in health, sport and exercise science (3rd from left, partially obscured)
— Denise Linville, lecturer in journalism
— Diane Nielsen, associate professor of education
— Tara S. Welch, associate professor of classics

Established by the Class of 1959, the HOPE Award is the only honor given exclusively by students for teaching excellence. Winners receive a monetary award and recognition on a permanent plaque displayed in the Kansas Union.

Nominations were solicited from the senior class by e-mail. The senior class then voted on the top nominations. Five faculty receiving the most nominations were interviewed by representatives of the Board of Class Officers and its Senior Advisory Board.

At the reception, Kelly M. Unger, president of the Board of Class Officers, will welcome the finalists and guests. Megan Do, HOPE Award chair, and Mathew Shepard, Board of Class Officers vice president, will join Unger in providing overviews of each finalist’s teaching career at KU.

In Memorial Stadium, Provost Jeffery Vitter will present the award to the winner. The Board of Class Officers and Lori Reesor, associate vice provost for Student Success, will join the provost in the award presentation. Reesor is adviser for the Board of Class Officers.

In some years, more than one award has been bestowed. In 1972, three professors each received a HOPE Award: the late John Bremner in journalism, Arno Knapper in business and Elizabeth Schultz in English. In 2007, Craig Martin, professor and chair of ecology and evolutionary biology, and Edward McBride, lecturer in civil, environmental and architectural engineering, received the award. Three professors have received the award more than once: the late Clark E. Bricker in chemistry received the award four times; the late Charles “Rick” Snyder in psychology, three times; and Martin twice, in 2002 and 2007.

 

Brief biographical information for the 2010 finalists:

F. Bernard “Bernie” Kish has been a lecturer in sport management in the Department of Health, Sport and Exercise Science within the School of Education since 2005. He has taught graduate and undergraduate classes and he coordinates and supervises the Sport Management Internship Program. Kish is also facility director for Robinson Center, which serves both classroom and research needs for sports education and recreation. His teaching awards include KU’s Joyce Elaine Pauls Morgan Excellence in Teaching Award for 2009-10. He was a finalist for the 2009 Del Shankel Teaching Excellence Award. Before 2005, Kish was the first executive director of the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind. He had also worked for Kansas Athletics Inc. from 1992 until 1995. A career military officer, Kish served more than 29 years in the U.S. Army, completing service as a colonel. His service included posts in Germany, Vietnam and Cambodia; Fort Riley and Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; Fort Ord, Calif.; and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.