Arcadia University Awards Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching
Glenside, Pa.—May 4, 2010—Arcadia University Assistant Professor of Sociology and Director of Act 101, Dr. Doreen E. Loury, was awarded the coveted Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching at the Arcadia University Honors Convocation.
“Dr. Loury has been an influential member of the Arcadia University community since 1991, beginning as an Adjunct Professor, continuing as an Instructor, and now, Assistant Professor of African American Studies and Director of the University’s Act 101 program,” said Dr. Steve O. Michael, Provost and Academic Vice President. “But she is so much more than that to her students. One student states, ‘She is an amazing person… a brilliant professor, and someone who has everyone’s best interest at heart. She puts her students first in regard to priority and offers you all the help she knows she can.’”
“This attitude exemplifies the Arcadia Promise of a personal learning experience,” Michael said. “To carry the Promise further, another student notes that Dr. Loury also ‘challenges you so you can think outside the box, not to be confined to just where you come from, grew up, and were exposed to all of your life.… It just does not come from the head but from the heart and experience as well.’”
The committee assembled to select this year’s Lindback Award recipient certainly agreed with one student’s comment that Loury “creates a new standard for professors and a better learning environment for students,” and another’s that she “is a vital component to the Sociology Department, Act 101, and the Arcadia University community, and thus deserves to be recognized for her wonderful work and dedication.”
Since earning her doctorate in African American Studies from Temple University in 1992, Loury has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminal Justice, and Director of Act 101. Loury finds that the importance in teaching is to provide students with reservoir of knowledge. “My courses are focused on the individual needs of students,” says Loury.
Loury also is the co-founder/Executive Director of the Black Male Development Symposium, which is the longest running intergeneration conference on the East Coast. It is a one-day symposium which is designed to provide an opportunity for youth, adults, educational institutions, community organizations and individuals to address the life-threatening issues facing Black male youth and adults. By providing presenters and interactive workshops, BMDS assist attendees in developing realistic strategies and concrete recommendations that they can put into practice in their respective communities.
“Over the last five years there have been more than 4,000 attendees,” says Loury. “We have attracted students and adults not only from Pennsylvania but also from New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Georgia, Minnesota, Michigan, etc. The BMDS provides a forum for practical solutions not just a forum for pontification and drive-by conversation.”
This year’s BMDS will be held Arcadia University on Saturday, May 15 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. “Our co-partner this year is School District of Philadelphia who will be sending more than 600 students, teachers and counselors to the event,” says Loury. “We have forged a unique partnership with the SDP in the formation of the Men of Honor/Black Male Development Mentoring Institute and on the day of the Symposium we also will hold an inaugural orientation training session from 9:45 a.m. to 4 p.m.”
About Arcadia University: Arcadia University is a top-ranked private university in metropolitan Philadelphia and a national leader in study abroad, ranked #1 in undergraduate participation in study abroad (Open Doors 2009). Arcadia University promises a distinctively global, integrative and personal learning experience that prepares students to contribute and prosper in a diverse and dynamic world. U.S. News & World Report ranks Arcadia University among the top master’s universities in the North, as one of the top study abroad programs in the nation, and as a “top up-and-coming school.” The Physical Therapy program is ranked 7th in the nation.
