Two KUMC faculty members receive Kemper Awards

Sep 17, 2009

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – In surprise presentations, the University of Kansas Medical Center has awarded its most recent $5,000 Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence to two additional faculty members.

Doug Wright, PhD, associate professor of anatomy and cell biology, and Janet Pierce, RN, DSN, CCRN, professor of nursing and adjunct associate professor of molecular and integrative physiology, were awarded the prestigious distinctions on September 14 and 16, respectively.

The Kemper fellowships recognize outstanding teachers and advisers at KU and KU Medical Center as determined by a seven-member selection committee. Now in their 14th year, the awards are supported by $650,000 in gifts from the William T. Kemper Foundation (Commerce Bank, trustee) and $650,000 in matching funds from KU Endowment.

The William T. Kemper Foundation was established in 1989 after the death of the Kansas City, Mo., banking executive and civic leader. The foundation supports Midwest communities and concentrates on initiatives in education, health and human services, civic improvements and the arts.

Dr. Wright is an associate professor in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.  He obtained his PhD degree from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, and did postdoctoral work at Washington University in St. Louis before joining the KUMC faculty in 1997.  In addition to maintaining a well-funded neuroscience laboratory, he serves as the director of Graduate Studies for his department and has advised numerous undergraduate, graduate, medical and MD/PhD students.  He is active in the curriculum for second-year medical students as well as neuroscience graduate courses and serves on the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences (IGPBS) Advisory Board for first-year School of Medicine graduate students.  Dr. Wright is a previous recipient of a Chancellors Distinguished Teaching Award, a Student Voice Teaching Award and a Bohan Teaching Professorship Award. 

Dr. Pierce is a professor in the School of Nursing and an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology in the School of Medicine.  She obtained her BSN degree from the University of Oklahoma and both a master’s degree and doctorate in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  Dr. Pierce completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Medical College of Virginia and joined the faculty of the School of Nursing in 1991.  She continues to serve as a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve along with her active KUMC career.  She teaches classes at all levels in the School of Nursing and is an active collaborator with colleagues in the Department of Physiology, maintaining an active and funded research program.  Dr. Pierce is a previous recipient of several teaching recognitions, including the Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Classroom Teaching.

 Gary Doolittle, MD, professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, and Curtis Klaassen, PhD, University Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Therapeutics, were also presented with Kemper awards on August 31 and September 1, respectively.

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