Office of Human Resources

Annual Recognition Awards for 2006-2007

Faculty Achievement Awards
This program was established in 1985 by the Burlington Northern Foundation. In 1990 the Board of Regents established a second award and now solely supports the awards to recognize outstanding university teaching. The intent of the award is to recognize, reward, and motivate excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service.

Service-Conrad Davidson, a faculty member in the Division of Humanities since 1986, is the author of six published plays, an excellent teacher and someone who has served Minot State University and the community in an exemplary manner. He recently completed a nine-year tenure as the humanities chair to return to full-time teaching. Davidson’s engagement within the community is especially noteworthy for its long duration. For many years, he has written the script for the Nodakords Fall Harvest of Harmony, tying their songs together with humorous plots. For five years, he has led the monthly writer’s group at the Milton Young Towers, assisting elderly and others interested in a writing workshop that focuses on memoirs. Davidson is also active in church and ministry activities. Significant among his future service goals are increasing his committee work, writing grant proposals to support the MSU Summer Theatre program, continuing to develop playwriting activity, and encouraging increased student involvement in creativity and advocacy of the aesthetic experience. Davidson received his bachelor’s degree from Dickinson State University, his master’s degree from North Dakota State University and his doctoral degree from the University of North Dakota.

Scholarship-Terry Eckmann, a faculty member in the Department of Teacher Education and Human Performance, came to Minot State University as a faculty member in August 1999. She received B.S., B.S.E. and M.S. degrees from MSU. She earned a Master of Science degree from the University of Montana and her doctoral degree from the University of North Dakota. Since 2002, she has been the leading writer and researcher with TEHP. Three of her research projects actively engaged undergraduates majoring in human performance with implementation of the project and collection of data. Eckmann has authored or co-authored chapters in two fitness textbooks and has written several articles published in fitness journals. Eckmann has given over 40 presentations, from the local to international level. She hosts a local television segment called KX Eye on Fitness, and she writes a column for the Minot Daily News’ Senior Scene. In addition to her scholarly research and presentations, Eckmann is an excellent teacher. She has completely revamped the group fitness, dance and adaptive physical education curriculum, bringing these three areas to the leading edge of knowledge and instruction within the profession.

Teaching-Laurie Geller, a faculty member in mathematics since 2002, is an innovative, reflective and engaging teacher. She received her bachelor’s degree from Minot State University, her master’s degree from the University of North Dakota, and her doctoral degree from Montana State University. Geller exemplifies MSU’s core value of "Students First." She brings tremendous depth of knowledge and versatility in the manner in which she facilitates her students’ learning of mathematical concepts in her classes. Whether she is teaching an entry-level course or a higher-level course, she demonstrates passion for mathematics and compassion for students. Geller works frequently with students outside of class. She makes herself available to students during posted office hours and beyond, often setting up help sessions with small groups, while also making time for work with individual students. She has formed strong mentoring relationships with several mathematics education majors. One of Geller’s attributes is her desire to continually assess her effectiveness as a teacher and to make changes that will allow her to grow professionally.

Scholarship-Walter Piehl Jr. models excellent teaching and service, but his scholarship garners the national recognition and is most pertinent to a sense of place on the Northern Plains. Historically, he is one of North Dakota’s most important artists. Piehl's work has been highly respected within the realm of Western art, yet he is also a vibrant, creative artist whose creativity transcends his subject. Working at odds with the tradition of nostalgic and representational cowboy art, Piehl presents a rough and tumble world of rodeos, horses and cowboys with an expressionistic style. He has been a professor of art at Minot State University since September 1970. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Concordia College and Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of North Dakota. His paintings have been included in many collections including the Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington, D.C., the Phillbrock Museum of Art and the Northwest Museum of Art. A major retrospective of his work was organized by the Plains Art Museum in Fargo in 2003. His exhibition record and workshop presentations are extensive and exemplary. He was the featured artist in the offices of North Dakota Governor John Hoeven and First Lady Mikey Hoeven and received the Governor’s Art Award. Piehl is a giving, open teacher and his students, past and present, love and respect him. His colleagues look to him for guidance and support, which are always forthcoming.

Staff Achievement Awards
The Board of Regents Staff Achievement Award was established in 1991. The Board of Regents established the award to recognize university staff members for outstanding service to the University and the community.

Judy Bacon began her employment as an administrative assistant in Minot State University’s Department of Teacher Education and Human Performance in August 2001. Previous to that, she served for 23 years as business manager and secretary for the Granville Public School. She is a positive, powerful and steadying presence within the department. She is always friendly, professional and accessible to students and faculty and is very efficient at performing her tasks in a timely manner. Bacon’s assistance during the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) accreditation visit was invaluable; she was instrumental in managing the details of numerous documents and files to be presented to the evaluation team. Bacon is active at MSU and in the community to enhance the quality of life for all. She has served as secretary for the MSU Staff Senate. She also sings in the Voices of Note women’s choral group and plays piano and organ for her church, Hope Congregational Church.

Neil Fulton, network operations manager at Information Technology Central, became a full-time Minot State University employee in June 1999. After transferring to MSU in 1996, he became a student worker for ITC while completing his bachelor’s degree in computer science. He is primarily responsible for monitoring the campus network, handling planned and unplanned network events, and overseeing back-ups, server hardware, e-mail and storage environments. In a "behind the scenes" role, Fulton develops scripts and writes programs that interface with and synchronize data between Peoplesoft and various campus servers. This work streamlines otherwise staff-intensive processes, minimizes delays, improves service and greatly enhances the overall user experience. Fulton’s programming expertise also resulted in the creation of a robust budget reporting tool for use by the Business Office and of value to all campus budget supervisors. His willingness to work flexible hours benefits students, faculty and staff by extending the Help Desk support times into the evenings and on Saturdays. Fulton also avails himself without compensation to webcast community events including Minot High School’s graduation ceremonies and the governor-sponsored ND Tech Expo.

Service Awards