Three receive Drazek Awards

By Jackie Ward

Three UMUC faculty members — one from The School of Undergraduate Studies and two from The Graduate School — received this year's Stanley J. Drazek Teacher Excellence Awards. Dale R. Collins, Paul W. Combs, and Karen Klisch, were the 2000-01 recipients.

Dale R. Collins

Collins, a faculty member in The School of Undergraduate Studies, has been teaching for more than 30 years. He has taught classes in labor management or human resources management in a variety of formats, classroom settings, and individual circumstances for UMUC every term since September 1982.

Students have consistently ranked Collins, who believes students learn best from "real world" inquiries, extremely high, especially for his enthusiasm for teaching and his ability to create an exciting and interactive class. One student said Collins "made it fun and interesting by dividing the class into two teams - management and union. We did simulations that were actual cases in the real world. This provided us with hands-on experience on how the whole process actually works."

Collins received his PhD in public personnel management from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University in 1973. Currently, he is the director of human resources and security at the Defense Contract Audit Agency of the Department of Defense.

Paul W. Combs

Another award winner, Combs, has taught for The Graduate School since 1995. When reflecting on this award, he said, "If there has been any excellence to my approach in teaching at the graduate level for UMUC, it really comes from the students themselves. If full-time working adult students are motivated enough to pursue graduate education, thrusting themselves into a role that requires an extraordinary balancing of career and family demands, then they deserve teaching that is as effective as possible and pertinent to their needs."

Combs teaches "Organizational Communication and Group Development" and "Current Perspectives in Human Resource Management Training and Development" courses. In both his online and face-to-face courses, students repeatedly have rated him highly for his depth of professional knowledge and use of active learning techniques that challenge them to apply what they are learning.

Combs holds an EdD in vocational and technical education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He is director of corporate learning at Cysive, Inc., and has over 20 years of experience in organizational and human resource development.

Karen Klisch

Klisch, who also received a Drazek award this year, has been described as a highly enthusiastic and dedicated faculty member. She has taught "Organizational Leadership and Decision Making" in The Graduate School since 1999. Colleagues and students alike view her as a natural leader and motivator. In describing her philosophy of teaching, Klisch said, "My responsibility as a teacher is to help students open doors to the endless possibilities of the mind, to have no limits to what can be done, except by choice."

One of the students who nominated Klisch for the award said, "She was truly an inspiration and I know she has made, and will continue to make, a difference in the lives of students who are fortunate to cross her path." Another student said, "I have never taken a class that was as challenging and relevant. I cannot say enough about Dr. Klisch - she has inspired me to consider teaching."

Klisch earned a PhD in psychology of sport and human development from University of Maryland, College Park. She holds the rank of professor emerita from Hood College in Frederick, Md., and is president of ASKK II, LLC, a consulting company specializing in leadership, team building, communication, decision-making, conflict management, and equity/diversity programs.

In addition, Teaching Recognition Awards for the School of Undergraduate Studies were awarded to George Takacs, who teaches technology and management, Jack Dillinger, who teaches art, and James Riley, who teaches business and management, at the Fall 2001 undergraduate faculty meeting.