The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and the Dominion Foundation selected English Prof. Lisa Russ Spaar to receive one of the 2010 Outstanding Faculty awards last Wednesday.\nA committee of prominent community members selected the 12 recipients - each of whom will receive $5,000 - from a list of 117 nominees who have excelled both in the classroom and in the realm of public service.
"There is a pretty amazingly long list of guidelines for the nomination process," said Kathleen Kincheloe, assistant director of communications for SCHEV. The committee looked for the most outstanding faculty in the fields of teaching, research and public service, she said.
In particular, the committee rewards "education which would extend beyond the classroom," Kincheloe said. "These individuals are really exemplary ... in getting students excited about learning and giving back to the community."
Spaar said she was thrilled about the honor.
"There are so many wonderful teachers here and all over the state," she said. "I knew that I was in the running but did not to expect to win."
She added that one of her job's highlights was working with students at the University, where she received her bachelor's and master's degrees.
"We attract marvelous students ... across a wide range of disciplines," she said. "Every semester a fresh crop of returning and new students gathers, and we get to look together at poems and texts and have conversations about them ... I love the students most of all."
For Spaar, the very act of teaching is a "way of making a living that is continually refreshing itself," especially thanks to the students who "keep me on my toes," she said.
The 2010 Outstanding Faculty Award is among several other awards she has received, including a 2009-10 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2009 Library of Virginia Literary Award and the 2009 All University Teaching Award.
The quality of this year's nominees made the selection process particularly difficult, Kincheloe said.
"It was a tight race this year," she said. "You have to have a special spark in order to stand out"
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