FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 9, 2009
Contact: Anika Mitchell Perkins
(662) 329-7124
aperkins@pa.muw.edu

Kerzel receives Kossen Faculty Excellence Award at MUW

COLUMBUS, Miss. - Dr. Dorothy Kerzel, chair of the Department of
Sciences and Mathematics at Mississippi University for Women, was given the Kossen Faculty Excellence Award at commencement on Saturday.

The award, which includes a $5,000 stipend, recognizes the role of
faculty as the heart of the university. It was established in 2004 by
Connie Kossen, a 1964 alumna of MUW, and her husband Tom.

Criterion for the award is based on three fundamentals: excellence in
teaching, excellence in scholarly or artistic achievement and excellence in service, preferably both on campus and in communities throughout MUW’s service area. Further, to be considered for this award, a faculty member must exhibit a commitment to student success in each of these three areas of responsibility.

Dr. Kerzel has been employed at MUW for 12 years.

“Her leadership as a department chair has been exemplary. Not only
does she provide careful mentorship for new faculty, but she leads by
example. She also is active in the area of campus service and is the
principal investigator for two congressionally-funded grants for science education programs,” said Dr. Sandra Jordan, MUW provost and vice president for academic affairs. “Dr. Kerzel is not only active on our campus, she takes her passion for mathematics and the sciences to the community by volunteering her time to tutor high school students and by helping to organize MUW’s Sonia Kovalevsky High School Mathematics Day and the Mississippi Regional Science Bowl for high school science teams.”

Jordan added that Kerzel’s commitment to students is legendary.

“She is an excellent teacher who consistently receives superb student
course evaluations. Despite the fact that she has time-consuming
administrative responsibilities, Dr. Kerzel always puts her students
first through her work as a caring and inspirational teacher and as a
dedicated student advisor and mentor.”

Kerzel also was praised for leading a team of mathematics faculty to
consider alternative ways to reinforce the mastery of mathematic skills
through greater student engagement in the classroom and more meaningful interactions between the faculty member and the student.

“This willingness to re-imagine and redesign the delivery of the
curriculum is representative of her dedication to student learning. It
is the kind of passion that leads to greater opportunities for all our
students to maximize their potential and reach their educational
goals,” Jordan said.