Bickers and Armstrong win service awards

Professors Gene N. Bickers and Lloyd Armstrong Jr. from physics and astronomy were named as the recipients of this year’s Distinguished Faculty Service Award by the USC Academic Senate.

In recognizing Bickers, the Senate said he has demonstrated “that service can complement and benefit from excellence in teaching and research. In fact, accomplishments as a teacher and researcher have helped this recipient. Since joining the faculty in 1988, Professor Bickers has served in numerous capacities within the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the College and the university. From 1998 to 2000, he chaired one of the Senate’s most important committees—the Committee on Undergraduate Education.

“It is not by coincidence that USC has an undergraduate program that has achieved a national mark of excellence. Gene Bickers has participated actively in the Renaissance Scholars program and on the university’s Diversity Committee, among many other committees.

“Bickers exemplifies the citizen-scholar. In a world where too often we hear someone say, ‘What’s in it for me?’ Bickers asks, ‘What can I do for the good of the university?’ He personifies integrity and service, while at the same time has amassed numerous awards for excellence in teaching and research.”

Recognition for his research includes A.D. White Fellowships, a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and a Raubenheimer Outstanding Junior Faculty Award. Recognition of his excellence in teaching includes being named a Faculty Fellow by USC’s Center for Excellence in Teaching, and being awarded a Mortarboard Excellence in Teaching Award, an Associates Award for Excellence in Teaching and a College General Education Teaching Award.

In recognizing Armstrong, the Senate said: “As provost of the university and a professor of physics, Lloyd Armstrong has served the faculty well. He listens, he acts and he carries out what he says he will do. Undergraduate education has improved because of his leadership, the tenure clock has been made more flexible because he listened to the Senate, an interdisciplinary center has been started, and initiatives in library and information services have been launched because he knew how to work well with faculty. Lloyd Armstrong is an academic’s academic—he is thoughtful, cantankerous and demands excellence from his faculty, his lieutenants and, most importantly, himself.”