FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Susie P. Gonzalez
susie.gonzalez@trinity.edu

May 19, 2010

Trinity University Honors Dedicated Professors for Outstanding Teaching, Service, Scholarship

SAN ANTONIO – Outstanding members of the Trinity University faculty have been honored for distinguished achievement in service, teaching, advising, or research. The awards were announced by Trinity president Dennis A. Ahlburg and the University’s Office of Academic Affairs.

David Heller, professor of music, was recognized for outstanding scholarship, research, and creative work. Richard Burr, professor of business administration, was lauded for his commitment and dedication to student advising. In addition, Curtis Brown, professor and chair of philosophy, received an award for distinguished University, professional, and community service.

Two junior faculty members – assistant professors Nicolle Hirschfeld, classical studies, and Andrew Porter, English – were cited for distinguished teaching and research.

David Heller

Colleagues of Professor Heller describe him as “one of the finest organists of his generation” who is also a dedicated scholar and teacher. Since coming to Trinity in 1986, he has presented 185 solo recitals and 65 collaborative performances with other artists and ensembles. He has performed in churches, cathedrals, and universities in the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Guatemala, Mexico, and South Korea. In April, Professor Heller performed with the San Antonio Symphony, and he has produced four solo recordings on compact disc, three of which have received critical acclaim in such journals as The American Organist, American Record Review, and Choir and Organ. Excerpts have been featured on American Public Radio and National Public Radio. In 2005, he was appointed Visiting Artist in Residence at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Ore., and in 2006, he was named Artist in Residence for North Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas.  

Richard Burr

Students advised by Professor Burr say he goes “above and beyond the call of duty” to make sure they take classes that will enhance their educational experience at Trinity and prepare them for careers or graduate school. He regularly advises 35-40 students, including business administration majors and our international students.  Staffers from Trinity’s International Programs Office said, “We have always thought that the dictionary definition of a ‘gentleman’ should have his picture and it should also be cross-referenced under ‘advisors.’ He is truly a sterling example of what a faculty advisor should be.” For Professor Burr, advising is literally a year-round exercise for international first year students to those who travel to Monterrey Tec in the middle of each semester to business majors at the end of each semester, and those who participate in summer study programs in Europe or Madrid.

Curtis Brown

Professor Brown is widely respected at Trinity as a supportive and dedicated colleague who has served oncountless committees at the department and University level, including the most time-consuming committees at Trinity – the Faculty Development Committee, the Commission on Promotion and Tenure, two terms on the Faculty Senate, and three terms on the University Curriculum Council, including rotations as chair and vice chair. In nominating him for the Distinguished Service Award, one colleague said, “I nominate Professor Brown because I have always been impressed by the way he serves. There is no one who is more thorough in preparation, no one more generous with time, and no one more skilled in considering the issues.” He has served his profession as a referee for philosophical journals and academic presses and has been active in the community as a volunteer with the Churchill High School Band Parents Association.

Nicolle Hirschfeld

Professor Hirschfeld has distinguished herself as an innovative teacher across a wide range of classes.Students frequently praise her as a role model and a mentor, and colleagues appreciate her ability to inspire enthusiasm among students through her teaching of language and material culture. Her scholarship is broadly interdisciplinary, combining economics, archaeology, geography, military history, cultural studies, and literacy studies. With 32 articles in print or in production, she has established herself as a leading authority on the potmarks inscribed on Bronze Age vases from Cyprus. She has contributed essays on warfare to the Landmark Editions of Herodotus’ Histories and Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, and she was recently commissioned by Oxford University Press to write the entry on Cyprus for the new Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome. For the past three years, she has served as president of the Southwest Texas Archaeological Society.

 

Andrew Porter

Professor Porter has reenergized the creative writing curriculum at Trinity. His students comment on his knowledge, focus, clarity, patience, supportive demeanor, and his helpful comments on their written work. His short stories have appeared in such respected literary magazines as The Antioch Review, The Ontario Review, and Prairie Schooner, as well as in the anthologies The Pushcart Prize: The Best of the Small Presses and Art at Our Doorstep: San Antonio Writers and Artists. His short-story collection, The Theory of Light and Matter, won the prestigious Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction and has received widespread critical acclaim. His work has been supported by a W. K. Rose Fellowship in the Creative Arts from Vassar College, a Literary Arts Award from the Artist Foundation of San Antonio, a Residency Grant from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, and a Tennessee Williams Scholarship from the Sewanee Writers Conference.

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