The College of Pharmacy, Nursing and Allied Sciences held its first annual college awards ceremony and reception on April 12. Three faculty members earned awards.
The Mary Berg Award for Excellence in Teaching went to Robert Sylvester, associate professor of pharmacy practice. The award recognizes a faculty member who is an outstanding teacher as defined by the ability to inspire and engage students in learning, who has demonstrated knowledge of pedagogical principles and who has been creative and innovative in approaches to teaching. Mary Berg was a 1974 graduate of pharmacy who died in 2004. Her father, Ordean Berg, BS ’41, left a $1.4 million estate gift to the college on her behalf, part of which funds the award for faculty.
Sylvester acknowledged the generosity of Ordean Berg in establishing the endowment in honor of his daughter. He noted that among faculty it renews the challenge to inspire students to emulate Mary Berg’s commitment to improve the health of the people they serve.
Bin Guo, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences, received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research. The award recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding achievements in research and who demonstrates excellence and innovation in scholarly work. Guo has published papers in high-impact biomedical journals such as Journal of Biological Chemistry and Cancer Research. He has received about $1 million in external funds since joining the college in December 2003. Guo recently graduated his first doctoral student, who has been admitted as a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University.
Norma Kiser-Larson, associate professor of nursing, earned the Dean’s Award for Exemplary Service. The award recognizes a faculty member who has a sustained record of service to the department, college, university, profession and public through professional involvement and or civic contributions. Kiser-Larson’s service includes mentoring a McNair student scholar, chairing graduate and undergraduate departmental faculty committees, serving on the NDSU anti-racism team for several years, advocating for students of diversity, coordinating three medical mission trips to Nicaragua and assisting with collection of medical supplies for victims of the Haitian earthquake. Kiser-Larson also has led various support groups in the community including groups for women who were sexually abused as children, groups for women with eating disorders and grief recovery groups.