Announcing This Year’s Recipients of the President’s Awards for Distinguished Scholar-Teachers

Dear Members of the Georgetown Community:
 
It is with great pride that I share with you this year’s recipients of the President’s Awards for Distinguished Scholar-Teachers at Georgetown University.  These awards celebrate individuals who have made an extraordinary impact on our community through the integration of ambitious research and excellent student engagement.   It is my pleasure to announce this year’s awardees:

Darlene V. Howard, Ph.D.
Davis Family Distinguished Professor
Department of Psychology

Donald C. Langevoort, J.D.
Thomas Aquinas Reynolds Professor of Law 
Georgetown University Law Center

Anton Wellstein, M.D.
Professor of Oncology and Pharmacology 
Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center

For years now, our community has sought to recognize outstanding commitments to our dual research and teaching mission through this award.  We believe that it is at the intersection of these endeavors—the formation of young people and unrestrained scholarly inquiry—that universities can make the most significant contributions to the world. 

Dr. Howard, a dedicated researcher and professor in our Department of Psychology, has motivated her students and fellow colleagues since her arrival at Georgetown more than four decades ago.  She is a prolific researcher and has published more than 90 papers, in addition to authoring Cognitive Psychology: Memory, Language, and Thought, a textbook that is relied upon in the field of cognitive psychology.  Her research and contributions to the growth of the study of “implicit learning” is exemplary, and her students consistently remark on the extraordinary influence she has had on their lives. We are pleased to honor her many years of dedication to her field and our Georgetown community with this award.

Professor Langevoort is a renowned expert in the field of securities law, and is deeply valued as a consultant and a collaborator by students and colleagues at our Law Center.  He is often sought out for his expertise—his work has been cited in opinions issued by justices of the Supreme Court—and he has testified multiple times before Congressional committees on issues relating to insider trading and securities litigation reform. Professor Langevoort is also known for his dynamic classroom teaching—instilling a passion in his students for corporate and securities law—and we are profoundly grateful for his influence and expertise at our Law Center.

Dr. Wellstein is a committed teacher and a creative researcher who fosters an environment of growth and exploration both in his classroom and throughout our Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and our Departments of Pharmacology and Oncology, where he serves as a professor. He is known for his dedication to mentoring students and for his relentless commitment to encouraging the development of scientists willing to explore new territories and make significant contributions to the body of knowledge in his field.  Our colleagues at our School of Medicine have been the beneficiaries of his dynamic teaching and excellence in scholarship for nearly three decades and it is a pleasure to honor him with this award.
 
This year’s exceptional pool of nominations represented the great strength and diversity of talent that characterizes our University community. Our awardees emerged following a rigorous selection process in which a committee of fellow distinguished faculty members identified a small group of finalists.  I wish to thank all of you who submitted nominations in the spring.
 
I hope that you will all join me in congratulating the awardees and celebrating the many ways that they have enriched our community. I look forward to presenting these awards at our Fall Faculty Convocation on October 20, 2016.
 
You have my very best wishes.
 
Sincerely,
 
John J. DeGioia