2011 Award Recipients
This award was established to recognize lifetime scholarship achievement of Andrews University faculty members. The Chair of the Scholarly Research Council accepted nominations in four separate categories: Arts, Humanities and Education; Pure and Applied Sciences; Professional Programs and Religion and Theology. Award recipients who must be associate or full professors and full-time employees for a minimum of five years, were selected by the membership of the Scholarly Research Council.
The recipients for this inaugural award were Karen Allen, professor of nursing, for the professional programs; Larry Burton, professor of teacher education, for the area of Arts, Humanities and Education; Richard Davidson, J.N. Andrews professor of the Old Testament, for the area of Religion and Theology; and Shandelle Henson professor of Mathematics, for the area of Pure and Applied Sciences.
L to R: Shandelle Henson, Karen Allen, Larry Burton
Shandelle Henson: Pure and Applied Sciences
Shandelle Henson's speciality is mathematical ecology in which she has produced ground-breaking mathematical models that describe the behavior of flour beetles, seabirds and harbor seals. Much of her work has been done with the Seabird Ecology Team, an interdisciplinary group of biologists and mathematicians.
Shandelle's scholarly productivity includes a coauthored book and 53 referred publications which include articles in the prestigious journals Science and Notices of the American Mathematical Society. She has numerous invited professional presentations and consultations.
Henson serves as editor of three research journals and has served as guest editor for three special issues. The National Science Foundation has called on her service for review panels evaluating grant proposals. Since coming to Andrews, Henson and her collaborators have garnered five NSF grants totaling approximately $1,000,000
Students have benefited from Henson's personal mentorship as participants in all aspects of her research and appearing as coauthors. Her research has enhanced her teaching of mathematics, for which she received rave reviews from her students.
Dr Henson serves as a scholar/teacher role model in an exceptional way..
Karen Allen: Professional Programs
Since joining the Department of Nursing faculty in 1998, Karen Allen has shown an outstanding commitment to scholarly endeavors.
As a writer Karen has authored two academic books. She is an editor for four academic journals as well as providing editorial review on four occasions. Securer of grants, Karen has also been the principal investigator for one received from the Center for Substance Abuse treatment. She has also served a co-investigator for research funded by the National Institute on Drug Research. Karen is an active presenter through papers read or posters presented at professional conferences as well as meetings of government health departments throughout the country. She is particularly concerned with women's health, substance abuse and family health.
Larry Burton: Arts and Humanities
Larry Burton is a dedicated researcher. He has lead out in Profiles, a major research initiative, for North American Division Office of Education. These periodic studies explore how teachers are using the curriculum adopted for K-12 schools. In the last four years he has led a study of the Biology program at Andrews University funded by a National Science Foundation grant. Each of these projects involves students. any student in the Curriculum and Instruction Program has ample opportunities to be involved in real research.
Larry has chaired 15 dissertations to completion and been on countless other dissertation committees. He has also sponsored writing groups to help students prepare their research for presentations. Students in the Curriculum and Instruction Program have presented their research in regional, national and international forums.
Larry is also the editor of the Journal of Research on Christian Education. He is constantly encouraging professors to engage in research that will advance the filed of education.
Richard M. Davidson: Religion and Theology
Richard Davidson, J.N. Andrews Professor of Old Testament Interpretation, has taught at the Seminary in the Department of Old Testament since 1979. It means 32 years of dedicated service, excellent research, and masterful teaching with a pastoral heart.
Davidson's research record has even exceeded his exceptional teaching reputation. His most elaborate, scholarly publication, his magnum opus, is Flame of Yahweh: Sexuality in the Old Testament. Years were dedicated to his heavy manuscript, which is the most comprehensive study to date on the topic of biblical sexuality. Other academic and professional books were Typology in Scripture, In the Footsteps of Joshua and A love song for the Sabbath.
He has contributed 36 chapters to various book projects, 25 articles for referred scholarly journals, and 47 articles in professional journals. Davidson also prepared the Sabbath School quarterly lessons on "Joshua."
Besides all these outstanding writing projects, he has read 94 scholarly papers in a variety of venues such as the Society of Biblical Literature. Between 2005 and 2010, he presented approximately 200 lectures and sermons around the world.