ASU’s Parents Association awarded psychology professor Leona Aiken, one of 29 nominees, with the 2010 Professor of the Year award at its annual Celebration of Teaching and Learning Excellence event Wednesday evening.
The award is designed to recognize outstanding tenured undergraduate professors who touch the lives of their students, said Parents Association Director of Parent Programs Robin Okun Hengl.
“It’s a special [award] because it’s not just for teaching, it’s not just for scholarship and it’s not just for service,” Okun Hengl said. “The winner must exemplify all three.”
Aiken has been teaching statistics to social science students at ASU for more than 40 years and said every minute of it has been a treasure.
“This has been my whole life. To me, this means maybe, just maybe, I’ve done things right, and what I’ve done has had an impact,” she said. “I’m old enough now to wake up and think, ‘What have I done with my life?’ and this makes me think it’s been something meaningful.”
Aiken also teaches ballet to children age 10 through high school and was recently one of three recipients of the 2009 Outstanding Doctoral Mentors award, which honors professors’ work with doctoral students.
Psychology graduate student Ellen Yeung said she nominated Aiken because of her special ability to make students comfortable and push them to succeed.
“She takes her students as family members, which is really important, especially for undergraduate students,” Yeung said. “For a lot of them, it’s their first time away from home and their parents, and they need that extra guidance and sense of security.”
Psychology junior Taylor Finegan, one of Aiken’s past students, attended the event to thank Aiken for her dedication to her students.
“I have really severe anxiety and regular panic attacks. She noticed this and took me outside and helped me try to calm down,” Finegan said. “She gave me a lot of extra help with homework and let me take private exams so I wouldn’t be so stressed. She devotes 24 hours a day, seven days a week to her students.”
Aiken’s husband, statistics professor Stephen West, echoed Finegan’s sentiment.
Aiken stays up all night to grade exams to return them to her students the next day, he said.
“Students from across the nation come to ASU to study under her,” West said. “She is widely regarded as one of the leaders in her field, and she still cares. She cares so immensely.”
As part of the award, Aiken will receive $20,000 cash, half of which will be distributed over two years to fund an undergraduate student research or teaching assistant.
She will also become a fellow in the Distinguished Teaching Academy, an organization designed to promote teaching and learning excellence at ASU.
Aiken was not the only professor nominated for the award — about 200 people attended in honor all 29 nominees.
“The night isn’t just about the winner,” Hengl said. “The Parents Association feels it’s important to recognize all of our outstanding professors.”
The nomination process requires a student, staff or faculty member to write a letter of recommendation and acquire additional letters from other students and staff, including the nominee’s dean.
The nominee then provides additional information, including a personal statement of his or her teaching philosophy.
A committee of professors and parents then chooses one recipient of the award.
2008 Professor of the Year and 2010 selection committee co-chair James Blasingame, Jr. said the decision was very difficult.
“Imagine what it would be like having 29 sprinters cross the finish line in a photo finish,” he said. “That is what it was like going through these 29 nominations. That’s why we have five special recognition awards this year.”
Biology professor Jon Harrison, biophysics professor Stuart Lindsay, music professor Caio Pagano, English professor Ayanna Thompson and history professor Matthew Whitaker all received special recognition, including a $1,000 award.
As impressive as each candidate was, ASUPA board chair Jennifer Gadek said she knew from the very start which candidate she would choose.
“We read the applications in alphabetical order, so she was first. When I read her application, I was amazed and I knew she was it, but I kept thinking, ‘well, maybe it’s just because this is the first one,’” Gadek said. “But as we went through the rest of them, that feeling remained. Reading through the recommendations, everyone was so genuine and impressed with her. It is a very well-deserved award.”
Finegan gave the highest praise of all, crediting her upcoming graduation with honors in large part to Aiken.
“I don’t think a single person here is upset they didn’t win,” she said, “because they know that she deserves this.”
Reach the reporter at keshoult@asu.edu
