Trio wins distinguished awards
Three Morehead State University faculty members who have distinguished themselves in their respective fields were honored during the University’s Fall Convocation on Wednesday, Aug. 12.
T
he 2009 award recipients are: Jeffrey Hill, associate professor of mass communication, Distinguished Creative Productions Award; Dr. Gerd H. Fricke, professor of mathematics, Distinguished Researcher, and Dr. Layne Neeper, professor of English, Distinguished Teacher.
Hill, who came to MSU in 2002, has gained international acclaim in film, winning awards in the U.S. and overseas. He has created music videos, narrative films and three-camera studio productions but his specialty is documentaries. Since coming to Kentucky, he has explored what makes the state unique, beginning with the people who represent the rich self-taught artistic tradition of Appalachia.
His association with MSU’s Kentucky Folk Art Center led to a five-part series which highlighted the individuals and traditions of the state. The films aired on Kentucky Educational Television and were selected to play at film festivals across North America and at international venues, such as Africa, Europe, and Australia.
The first of the five documentaries, “Chisel,” highlighted an African American wood sculptor. It was screened at the refereed Broadcast Education Association’s district conference and played at three juried festivals: The Bluegrass Independent Film Festival, Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival and the George Lindsey UNA Film Festival where it earned an honorable mention for Documentary-Faculty. The documentary was selected for KET’s Arts Toolkit, a curriculum and instruction series which KET makes available to K-12 schools, as well as colleges and universities.
The accolades were repeated for the other documentaries in the series, which aired at national and international locations.
Hill received a Creative Productions Grant from the former Institute for Regional Analysis and Public Policy to create a documentary on a sorghum producer in Menifee County. It earned him a James B. Storey Experience Award at the Flatland Film Festival in Lubbock and honorable mentions at the Berkeley Film and Video Festival in Berkeley, Calif., and the Twin Rivers Media Festival in Asheville, N.C. He was invited to share the “How to” at the Films in Competition at the Anchorage International Film Festival in Anchorage, Alaska.
Hill has received more than $70,000 in grants, made nearly 30 presentations worldwide, and his films have been shown or exhibited at hundreds of locations.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., a master’s degree in communication from Wayne State University in Detroit, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill. Before coming to MSU, Hill taught at SIU and Oakland Community College.
Dr. Fricke, a faculty member who joined the Department of Mathematical Sciences in 1999, has published in a broad variety of research areas, which is atypical for a research mathematician. His work includes research in Complex Analysis, Graph Theory, Real Analysis, Topology, Differential Equations, Functional Analysis, Summability Theory, and Physics.
In the early years, the bulk of Dr. Fricke’s work was in Complex Analysis. In the 1970s, he was one of the two leading experts on Entire Functions of Bounded Index. This work led to his invitation to serve as an unofficial adviser for a University of Montreal Ph.D. student. Reading the thesis, written in French, and several visits to Montreal improved his language skills and provided new opportunities.
At a conference some 20 years ago, Dr. Fricke met the speaker who was from Clemson University. Learning that he was an avid problem solver, the speaker introduced Dr. Fricke to two open questions that had long puzzled him and other researchers in Graph Theory. After providing the answers, Dr. Fricke was sent more questions, thus beginning a fruitful exchange that continues today. He changed his research emphasis to Graph Theory and quickly became a well-known expert on Graph Parameters.
Since coming to MSU, Dr. Fricke research has generated interest and he has offered seminars for faculty and students and discussed open problems in Graph Theory. The work has resulted in several publications and inspired colleagues to actively pursue research in various areas despite their teaching load. He is very proud that he and his colleagues involved undergraduates in publishable research, something extremely rare in mathematics.
Dr. Fricke has gained an international reputation through his research excellence and his active and engaged research agenda. In 1992, the University of Natal in South Africa and the Hanno Rund Fund invited him for a series of lectures and a three-month visit to Durban. Because of the work with several researchers in South Africa, he served as the unofficial adviser for a colleague who received a Ph.D. degree from the University of South Africa in 2007. He continues to obtain contacts from South Africa and makes frequent visits to Clemson and various universities in Germany and France.
He has given more than 200 invited talks in the United States and abroad, with more than 50 presentations in Canada, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria and South Africa. Through his partnerships, including those at MSU, he is working with groups at Clemson, University of Tennessee, and in the international arena. He has received external funding for mathematics research, from the Hanno Rund Fund as well as the Math National Science Foundation through Clemson, and his more than 70 publications in refereed journals are truly extra ordinary accomplishments for a research mathematician.
Dr. Fricke began his undergraduate studies at the University of Bonn, Germany, in 1966; three years later he received a master’s degree from the University of Kansas, and the Ph.D. degree from Kent State University in 1971
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Dr. Neeper, a faculty member in the Department of English, Foreign Languages and Philosophy since 1993, specializes in 19th and 20th century American literature. He teaches courses ranging from basic writing to graduate seminars, advises students, serves on thesis committees and has developed several new courses.
An active scholar, he has written several articles for publication. He has made presentations at more than 30 conferences across the country. During a sabbatical leave in the spring 0f 2008, he researched novelist Stephen Wright which yielded two articles that were accepted by respected journals.
Active in various academic organizations, he holds membership in the Modern Language Association and its affiliates and the Kentucky Philological Association. He is a member of the Sigma Tau Delta and Phi Kappa Phi honor societies. His service beyond the University includes a long association with the Advanced Placement English Literature Exam serving first as a reader and now as a table leader for the Educational Testing Service.
On the campus, he has served on various committees within his college and department, as well as the college’s Graduate Committee and Student Media Board. He completed two consecutive terms on the Faculty Senate; has served on the EFLP Tenure Committee since 1998, which he chaired from 2004-05; has served on the English Graduate Faculty Committee since 1993, which he chaired from 1998-2000; and now serves as the interim chair of the Department of English.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University, master’s degree from Texas Tech University and the Ph.D. degree from Pennsylvania State University.
Posted: 8-12-09
