Ernest Lunsford, professor of Spanish, was presented with the 2000-01 Daniels-Danieley Award for Excellence in Teaching at Elon’s annual Faculty-Staff Awards Luncheon on May 9. Anne Bolin, professor of sociology, was the recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award.
Lunsford was praised by students and faculty alike for his innovative and enthusiastic approach to teaching.
“His students characterize him as a passionate, compassionate, organized, creative and inspiring teacher,” writes a colleague in support of his nomination. “He is extremely well-organized and prepared, he is demanding yet fair, patient in his efforts to explain complicated concepts, and well-respected among students.”
Another colleague praised Lunsford’s ability to design innovative study abroad courses. “Through careful curriculum development and extensive site research, Dr. Lunsford has packed more learning opportunities into his course than any other I know of. His students unanimously praise the class for being both rigorous and enchanting. It was Ernie’s course and a few others that really put Elon on the map and which distinguish our program from the ‘supervised tourism’ that often passes for study abroad at other institutions.”
Students are appreciative of the high standards Lunsford sets for them in his classes. “Dr. Lunsford would assign challenging projects such as reading a novel in Spanish or doing a 30-45 minute presentation about a Latin American country in Spanish,” writes a student. “His exams are intense, requiring students to use critical thinking skills to answer questions. Because he had such high expectations and was so challenging, I wanted to do better. I found myself studying more, asking more questions and searching for more answers.”
Lunsford is an active member of Elon’s academic community. During his term as chairman of the department of foreign languages from 1990-1994, Lunsford established majors in both Spanish and French. He helped create an international
business concentration, requiring foreign language study, within the Business Administration major. Lunsford has also worked closely with the School of Education to create programs to prepare future foreign language teachers.
Lunsford came to Elon in 1981. He received a bachelor’s degree from Duke University, Durham, N.C., a master’s degree from Middlebury College, Madrid, Spain, and a doctorate in Spanish from the University of Florida, Gainesville.
Lunsford is the 29th winner of the Daniels-Danieley Award, an award for excellence in teaching established by J. Earl Danieley, president emeritus and his wife, Verona Daniels Danieley, in honor of their parents.
Bolin’s research interests include sex, gender and women, medical anthropology and the anthropology of sport. She has studied Native Americans and the peoples of Oceania and Western Australia. A prolific writer, Bolin has published two books. Her first book, “In Search of Eve: Transsexual Rites of Passage,” won the Choice Magazine Award for Outstanding Academic Book in 1988-89, and her second book, “Perspectives on Human Sexuality,” is a major sourcebook for scholars and students. She has published 29 articles or chapters in journals and scholarly books, authored numerous book reviews and presented more than 60 papers at professional conferences.
Colleagues note her cutting edge approach to research has attracted popular and scholarly attention. “Every time I have heard her present, she has not failed to stir creative, new, sometimes controversial responses from her audience,” writes a colleague. “I hear her name and work often mentioned, and it is always with the highest regard and respect.”
Bolin’s research into women body builders led to her own involvement in the sport. She became a competitive body builder herself, winning several amateur titles in the process. “Anne doesn’t simply ‘do’ her work. She is her work. She lives and breathes it,” a colleague says.
A member of the Elon faculty since 1988, Bolin received bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees in anthropology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She is the second recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award, established in 2000 to recognize a faculty member whose research has earned peer commendation and respect, while making a significant contribution to their field of study.
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