Weber State University economics professor Doris Geide Stevenson has been named the 2017 John S. Hinckley Fellow, and WSU’s Arts Learning Collaborative has been honored with the 2017 Exemplary Collaboration Award. The awards will be presented at a luncheon Nov. 10 at 12:30 p.m. in the Shepherd Union Ballroom.

Hinckley Award

Economics professor Doris Geide Stevenson focuses her teaching on global macroeconomics, international finance, money and banking. A native of Germany, Stevenson holds the degree of Diplom-Volkswirt from the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg. She earned her Ph.D. in economics from the State University of New York at Buffalo.

As chair of WSU’s economics department for nine years, Stevenson helped develop a “two plus two curriculum” with Shanghai Normal University (SHNU) where SHNU students take courses in Shanghai during their freshman and sophomore years and at Weber State during their junior and senior years. They complete the same courses at WSU required of any other international economics major. The program was so successful, it expanded to include students from Korea’s Woongji Accounting and Tax College.

In the fall 2017 semester, 41 Chinese and Korean students are taking classes through the International Economics program at WSU. A total of 154 students from SHNU and 40 from Woongji have graduated from the program and have continued on to jobs with companies such as Goldman Sachs.

 In addition to international collaboration, Stevenson regularly leads students on study abroad trips to Europe to experience the culture and learn about international business and economics.

“Doris has been a consistent advocate for increased internationalization,” said Jeff Steagall, dean of the John B. Goddard School of Business & Economics. “Her contacts in Europe have allowed her to get our MBA students into top government agencies, such as the European Central Bank and influential for-profit companies, including various German car manufacturers.”

Stevenson is also heavily involved in supporting faculty at Weber State and is currently serving her second term as the chair of Faculty Senate.

Collaboration Award

Approximately 40,000 students in Ogden, Weber and Davis school districts have benefitted from the Weber State University Arts Learning Collaborative since its creation in 2013. For efforts to bring arts to Utah classrooms, the collaborative was honored with the 2017 Exemplary Collaboration Award.

The collaborative has a two-prong approach: teach teachers how to incorporate the arts in all their classroom curriculum and reach students with inspiring arts programs.

The collaborative is housed in both the Telitha E. Lindquist College of Arts & Humanities and the Jerry & Vickie Moyes College of Education. The collaborative, which now provides enhanced art education to 76 elementary schools in the WSU service area, supports the statewide Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts Learning Program.

The collaborative also hosts an annual Arts Integration Conference at WSU, as well as traveling workshops that help hundreds of classroom teachers learn to integrate the arts with other core content areas, including math, science and English. Teachers who have attended the conference have commented on the excitement and energy arts integration brings to problem-solving in all subjects.

“It is both an honor and a privilege for me to continue Beverley Taylor Sorenson’s great legacy of support for arts education in Utah,” said Tamara Goldbogen, the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Endowed Chair for Arts Learning at WSU. “We are grateful to be part of the network of universities across the state in support of arts integration. We know firsthand the more we can engage the curiosity and imagination of students through the arts, the more motivated they are to learn.”

Under the direction of Goldbogen; Monica Pendergast, program coordinator; and Erinne Roundy, program assistant, the collaborative actively partners with Cathy Jensen, Utah State Board of Education, and Lisa Cluff, Art Works for Kids. The WSU advisory committee is comprised of Vincent Bates, teacher education assistant professor; Dianna Huxhold, art education assistant professor; Jenny Kokai, performing arts associate professor; Louise Moulding, teacher education professor; Thom Priest, music professor; Jack Rasmussen, Moyes College of Education dean; Amanda Sowerby, dance professor; Scott Sprenger, Lindquist College of Arts & Humanities dean; and Kathleen Stevenson, visual arts professor.

The Arts Collaborative offers trainings throughout the year, including two upcoming in November.

  • WSU’s Fall Elementary Arts Conference –  Nov.10, 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
  • Movement & Mathematics: Thinking with Your Feet (Grades 3-6) – Nov. 30, 4:45- 6:45 p.m.

For more information about the collaborative, visit wsuartslearning.com.