Professors honored for excellence in research, teaching

IU-Bloomington professors Sara C. Pryor and Romualdo de Souza will be named Provost Professors, and IUB professor Carmen Téllez will receive the 2010 Tracy M. Sonneborn Award.

The awards were announced Monday by Provost and Executive Vice President Karen Hanson and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Tom Gieryn.

“We are proud to recognize colleagues who combine excellence in research and teaching, demonstrating once again that these two valued pursuits need not compete with each other,” Gieryn said in an IU press release.

The Provost Professorship is for faculty who are known for both teaching and research. It was created in 1995 as Chancellor’s Professors and the named changed in 2008.

In addition to being professor and director for the Atmospheric Science Program, Department of Geography and the Center for Research in Environmental Science, Pryor focuses on two research areas.

She researches climate change and variables and their impact on energy and agricultural sectors as well as atmosphere and biochemical cycles in the exchange of reactive gases and particles.

Currently, she has several projects including developing 21st-century precipitation scenarios. Pryor has published articles in international journals and served on advisory panels for organizations such as the National Science Foundation.

“She devotes an enormous amount of time, energy and vitality into her instruction and mentoring while being a productive and successful scholar,” Chairman of the Department of Geography Scott Robeson said in the release.

Fellow Provost Professor, de Souza is a chemistry professor who specializes in nuclear reaction dynamics.

Known as a leader in his field, he has received awards and written for leading journals such as Physical Review Letters.

Department of Chemistry Chairman James Reilly said in the release that de Souza has impacted others’ research and enabled new research topics.

De Souza also had a part in creating the Computer Assisted Learning Module to teach students through individualized chemistry questions. The module is used by freshmen chemistry students and high school students in 210 schools.

The Sonneborn award honors professors who both teach and  are scholars or artists. It was created in 1985 by the Dean of the Faculties.

Téllez is a professor in the Jacobs School of Music and director of Graduate Choral Studies and the Latin American Music Center. She is also artistic director for the Contemporary Vocal Ensemble.

Her performances have reached cultural centers worldwide and she has won grants as both a scholar and conductor.

Colleague Marianne Kielian-Gilbert said Téllez connects performance, composition and conducting with teaching and scholarship.

— MJ Slaby