Syracuse University Graduate School to honor candidates at doctoral dinner and hooding ceremony

Syracuse University Graduate School to honor candidates at doctoral dinner and hooding ceremonyMay 04, 2001Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

William Wasserstrom Prize to be awarded to Physics Professor Joseph Schechter

Syracuse University’s Graduate School will honor 134 doctoral degree candidates during the annual Doctoral Dinner and Hooding Ceremony May 11 in the Schine Student Center’s Goldstein Auditorium. A reception will begin at 6:45 p.m., followed at 7:30 p.m. by dinner, the presentation of awards and the hooding ceremony.  In addition to honoring the doctoral candidates, the 2000-2001 William Wasserstrom Prize for Graduate Teaching in The College of Arts and Sciences will be presented to Joseph Schechter, professor of physics.  Dean Howard Johnson will present welcoming remarks. Assistant Dean Peter Englot will present the awards and Assistant Dean Stacy Lane Tice will present Certificates in Teaching.  Sixteen doctoral degree candidates will be honored with prizes for outstanding dissertations: Heather D. Battaly, Panayotis Benetatos and Heidi M. Minning in The College of Arts and Sciences; Huei-Hsuan Lin, John M. Mayer and Carol A. Vanderkarr in the School of Education; Helene Balligand, Sheeyun Park and Qian Zhang in the College of Engineering and Computer Science; Tracey Y. Lewis in the College for Human Development; Kristin R. Eschenfelder in the School of Information Studies; Jian Zhou in the School of Management; and Mark D. Brewer, Phillip A. Dehne, Holly S. Hurlburt and Amy K. Donahue in The Maxwell School.  The Wasserstrom Prize is awarded annually in memory of Professor William Wasserstrom, a former member of the Department of English. The recipient is a full-time faculty member, who, in the view of students and colleagues is a recognized scholar who produces original and distinctive work, has an outstanding record of effective training of graduate students and is an active participant in the intellectual and institutional life of the University and his or her college and department.  Schechter is a prominent teacher, researcher and leader in the field of chiral dynamics and the interface of particle theory and nuclear physics. He has published more than 100 scholarly articles, received global recognition for his work, which is widely cited, and is frequently invited to speak at international conferences. Schecter’s research group is currently working in the area of strong interaction physics, including linear and non-linear chiral Lagrangian treatments of the lowest-lying scalar mesons.

Undergraduate and graduate students rank Schechter as an outstanding teacher, and an excellent guide and counselor. His reputation for kindness, patience and scholarship is legendary among students, several of which have become established physicists in their own right.