LSU’s Marybeth Lima Named 2009 Louisiana Professor of the Year

December 11, 2009

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and CASE announce honors

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, or CASE, have named LSU's Marybeth Lima the 2009 Louisiana Professor of the Year. Lima was selected from more than 300 top professors in the United States.

Lima, LSU professor of biological and agricultural engineering, has a number of other honors to her credit. She is a fellow of the prestigious American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering, or AIMBE, joining more than 900 international engineers and scientists, among them Nobel Prize winners, and a previous winner of the Ernest A. Lynton Award, presented nationally to a faculty member who connects scholarly expertise with service-learning and community outreach. She has also recently been honored at the local level: Volunteer! Baton Rouge, together with WAFB-TV Channel 9 and Capital One Bank, honored her with the Power of 9 Award, which celebrates the spirit of volunteerism and spotlights individuals in the Baton Rouge community who demonstrate an extraordinary ethic of service.

"I am honored and humbled to be chosen to receive this award, and I thank my community partners and my colleagues for their extraordinary efforts and wisdom in our work together," said Lima.

A long-time service-learning practitioner, Lima uses innovative, creative service-learning pedagogy in her field of biological engineering. Her community partners are the public schools of Louisiana. Her goal is equal access for all children to safe, public play equipment whose designs are imagined by the children themselves. Through many long after-class and weekend hours, she has worked alongside her biological engineering students and their community partners to address community needs, demonstrating her commitment to work with the community rather than simply providing something for the community. Since 1998, Lima and her students have designed and/or built 18 playgrounds, each of which serves an average of 300 children every day, five days a week and 40 weeks a year.

CASE and the Carnegie Foundation have been partners in offering the U.S. Professors of the Year awards program since 1981. TIAA-CREF, one of America's leading financial services organizations and higher education's premier retirement system, became the principal sponsor for the awards ceremony in 2000. Additional support for the program is received from a number of higher education associations, including Phi Beta Kappa, which sponsors an evening congressional reception.

This year, there are 38 state winners. CASE assembled two preliminary panels of judges to select finalists. The Carnegie Foundation then convened the third and final panel, which selected four national winners. CASE and Carnegie select state winners from top entries resulting from the judging process. Lima was selected from faculty members nominated by colleges and universities throughout the country.

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching was founded in 1905 by Andrew Carnegie "to do all things necessary to encourage, uphold and dignify the profession of teaching." The foundation is the only advanced-study center for teachers in the world and the third-oldest foundation in the nation. Its nonprofit research activities are conducted by a small group of distinguished scholars.

The Council for Advancement and Support of Education is the largest international association of education institutions, serving nearly 3,400 universities, colleges, schools and related organizations in 59 countries. CASE is the leading resource for professional development, information and standards in the fields of educational fundraising, communications, marketing and alumni relations.

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Article by Ashley Berthelot, LSU Media Relations, 225-578-3870, aberth4@lsu.edu