ETSU bestowed its highest honor upon three professors last week during the annual Faculty Convocation with the presentation of the 2004 Distinguished Faculty Awards for Teaching, Research and Service.
The winners were nominated and selected by their peers, and each received a medallion, a plaque and a $5,000 check provided by the ETSU Foundation.
Dr. Larry S. Miller received the Distinguished Faculty Award in Teaching. The professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology in the College of Arts and Sciences was nominated based on the high regard his students have for him, his record of textbook publishing, his willingness to contribute to his department and other factors.
“Dr. Miller is both very capable and very caring,” wrote one colleague in his nomination of Miller for the award. “He gets students interested in criminal justice and helps prepare them for successful careers after graduation. His students have gone on to both academia and to very responsible positions in law enforcement. Either way, Dr. Miller is leaving his mark on his students and on the countless others that they in turn influence.”
Numerous former students who now work in local, state and federal law enforcement agencies wrote of the quality of Miller’s teaching and the positive impact he had on their careers.
One former student, now a professor of criminal justice in another state, wrote that although graduates frequently look back on college, finding that many classes “tend to turn into a blur,” she could recount in vivid detail her memory of Miller’s classes.
“I have worked with dozens of former students of Dr. Miller,” wrote another, who is now a senior special agent in the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. “Some of his students have saved lives, (some have) become teachers or professors, and some have given their life in the service of their country.”
Miller is the author or co-author of seven successful textbooks, including Effective Police Supervision, Police Photography, Human Relations and Corrections, Human Relations and Police Work, Introduction to Criminal Justice Research and Statistics, and others. Four of these textbooks are in their fourth edition and one in a fifth edition.
Dr. James Fox received the Distinguished Faculty Award in Research. Fox is research director of the Center for Early Childhood Learning and Development, a Tennessee Center of Excellence, and a professor in the Department of Human Development and Learning in the Claudius G. Clemmer College of Education.
Throughout his career, his research has focused “on the environmental factors that contribute to behavior problems (e.g., aggression, opposition, disruption and self-injury) in children and youth with disabilities.” He describes his work since coming to ETSU as focusing on “how we can better assess and understand the various physical, curricular and social-interpersonal classroom variables that may trigger and maintain these ‘behavior challenges’ as well as how we can use this information to develop more effective interventions to promote better school adjustment and learning for such students.”
Fox’s research activity includes participation on editorial boards for four journals, publishing seven book chapters and 60 refereed articles, presenting more than 150 conference papers and maintaining extramural support for his own research and other programs and activities of the Center for Early Childhood Learning and Development. He has secured research grants at the local and federal levels, as well as service/training grants, through which he has supported applied research projects that have improved services for children who were involved in those grants.
In the past year, he received funding from the Tennessee Department of Education for a project called “Make a Difference: Technical Assistance for Schools and Families of Children and Youth with Emotional/Behavioral Challenges.”
In this project, he provided services while also conducting applied research that evaluates their results. Through those efforts, he and his staff have become nationally recognized in the field of research known for dealing with functional behavior assessment, and he was recently invited to provide a chapter in a text on that subject.
“One of Dr. Fox’s greatest strengths is his ability to collaborate and assist other researchers,” wrote a colleague in support of his nomination. “His knowledge of research and observational techniques makes him invaluable, as students and faculty are designing and implementing research studies. He is always willing to discuss research possibilities, suggest approaches and edit articles for publication.”
The ETSU Distinguished Faculty Award for Service was presented to Dr. Gary Henson, an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geology in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Henson is director of the university’s planetarium and the Harry D. Powell Observatory. Soon after his arrival at the university in 1989, he contributed to major physical improvements to the planetarium, which is located in Hutcheson Hall. He has developed friendships with teachers and area astronomers, and has given more than 250 planetarium shows to school groups, amateur astronomer groups and other organizations over the years. For the past 11 years, he has coordinated and presented monthly planetarium shows for the public.
As director of the observatory since 2002, he has maintained equipment, trained student lab assistants and managed events ranging from the Girl Scouts “Night Eyes” programs to the Mars Watch events that were attended by more than 1,000 people in 2003. He set up a new radio telescope at the observatory and recently coordinated with the Physical Plant to ensure that the development of the new ETSU golf practice facility did not negatively impact the observatory.
In addition, Henson coordinated the 2004 Appalachian Student Research Forum hosted by ETSU and serves as a judge in the Upper East Tennessee Science Fair at ETSU and the regional high school Odyssey of the Mind program.
He also supports ETSU’s participation in the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy (SARA) consortium, serving on the SARA board of directors and traveling to the organization’s telescope in Kitt Peak, Ariz., both to lead students and to do technical work on the telescope. He has been a mentor for SARA’s Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, which is supported by the National Science Foundation, eight times.
“Gary is a man of strong principle and iron will,” wrote Dr. Terry D. Oswalt of the Florida Institute of Technology and chair of the SARA board of directors in support of Henson’s nomination. “He is in many respects SARA’s ‘conscience.’ He is a team player and a peacemaker at heart … He is totally committed to serving his university, his discipline of astronomy (and) his students, and to bringing the thrill of scientific discovery to the public.”
An area teacher who wrote in support of Henson’s nomination noted his enthusiasm and willingness “to help his community educate and motivate its children. He does this without hesitation or compensation, always serving by contributing significantly to the academic accomplishments and future knowledge of those he serves.

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