Stout honored as 2002 outstanding faculty member at Saint Martin’s College
Wednesday, June 5, 2002
Lacey, Wash. - Don E. Stout, Jr., a
member of both the engineering and business and economics faculty at
Saint Martin’s College, is the recipient of the 2002 Monks of Saint
Martin’s Abbey Outstanding Faculty Award.
The
award was established in 1994 by the Saint Martin’s monastic community
as a symbol of support for the college’s faculty and for excellence in
teaching. It carries with it a $1,500 award.
Stout was nominated for the honor by
students, who spoke of his high academic standards, consistent high
quality of instruction and success in creating an environment with
two-way communication between students and instructor. He teaches
courses for Saint Martin’s at both the main campus in Lacey and the extension
campus classes at Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base.
“Don exemplifies what is best about our
college’s faculty members. He deeply cares about each student’s
success,” says Jacqueline Johnson, the college’s vice president for
academic affairs. “He is approachable, patient, knowledgeable,
student-centered and brings with him real-world experience that
complements traditional academic approaches in a most positive way.”
Stout says he aspires to the words of
Carl Jung, who wrote: “An understanding heart is everything in a
teacher and cannot be esteemed highly enough.”
Learning, he says, is “an active,
dynamic process of discovery and insight that requires active student
participation. I am learning my job is neither to lecture nor to train.
It is to shape the learning environment. Students must get their hands
dirty. They must be fully engaged.”
A retired colonel for the Army Corps of
Engineers, Stout began teaching at Saint Martin’s in 1997. He brought
with him a rich background of experience from the U.S. Army Engineer
School, where he provided instruction for engineering students, created
curriculum, organized schedules and evaluated personnel. At another
point in his military career, he planned, programmed and budgeted all
U.S. Army construction projects in 19 Middle East countries.
Johnson says Stout is highly valued for
his out-of-classroom work at the college, where his is director of the
College’s Master of Engineering Management Program, manager of the
college website and serves on several committees. He brings an
interdisciplinary focus and an active and inquiring mind to his work,
she says. Although he is a member of two professionally oriented
divisions, his keen interest in liberal arts concerns has made him one
of the key players in current college discussions about the general
education curriculum. He also is helping to implement a $1.8 million
federal higher education administrative technology grant.
Stout, an Olympia resident, earned his
Master of Engineering Management degree at Saint Martin’s, and earlier
pursued graduate studies in research and development management at the
University of Alabama. His bachelor of civil engineering degree was
earned at Auburn University, where he was named the outstanding
engineering graduate in 1976. He was named a Distinguished Graduate of
the U.S. Army Aviation School and is a member of Tau Beta Pi national
engineering honorary and Chi Epsilon national civil engineering
honorary.
For more information:
Jacqueline Johnson
Vice president for Academic Affairs
360-438-4310 or jjohnson@stmartin.edu
Holly Harmon
Director, Office of Communication
360-438-4332 or hharmon@stmartin.edu