Colorado State University Honors Best Teacher Award Recipients Feb. 21

Six top educators at Colorado State University have been named Best Teacher award-winners for 2003 and will be honored during a ceremony Feb. 21.

This year’s winners and their departments are Larry Bloom, professor, psychology; Mario Caballero, operations adviser for Campus Television and KCSU radio and instructor in journalism; Christopher Melby, professor, food science and human nutrition; Deborah Thompson, assistant professor, English; Stephen Thompson, professor, chemistry; and Suzanne Tochterman, assistant professor, education.

This year’s winners were chosen from more than 200 nominations. Students, alumni and faculty were asked to submit nominations, and final selections were made by the Colorado State Alumni Association board of directors.

Best Teacher Awards are sponsored by the Colorado State Alumni Association and the Student Alumni Connection. The award program will be held at the University Park Holiday Inn, 425 W. Prospect Road. Doors open at 6 p.m., dinner will follow and the awards program begins at 7 p.m. Admission is $10 per person. Advance tickets are required. To make reservations or for more information, call Emily Porter at (970) 491-3591.

Following are the Best Teachers of 2003 and excerpts from the people who nominated them.

Larry Bloom, professor, psychology

Bloom joined the faculty at Colorado State in 1975. During the past 28 years he has taught several courses at the undergraduate level, including Introduction to Psychology, Stress and Biofeedback, Human Sexuality and Psychobiology. His Human Sexuality class has been voted the best course on campus by students for the past several years. At the graduate level, he has taught Psychopathology for 28 years and regularly supervises students in the Psychological Services Center practicum. Bloom has conducted research in the fields of behavioral medicine and is the author or co-author in more than 30 scientific publications. One student nominating Bloom noted, "He somehow entices everyone to participate. He is so passionate in trying to get everyone to think like a psychologist."

Mario Caballero, broadcast operations adviser and journalism instructor

Caballero has been involved in broadcasting and radio management for 20 years. He is a member of the Broadcast Education Association, College Media Advisors and the National Press Photographer’s Association. He also has presented sessions at College Media Advisors conferences in New York and New Orleans. Caballero enjoys working with students as they gain experience to expand their potential and discover their strengths. A student said, "He constantly takes time out of his busy schedule to aid my peers and me. He genuinely wants us all to succeed and to make our hearts happy."

Christopher Melby, professor, food science and human nutrition

Melby is the head of the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. He came to Colorado State in 1990, having spent the previous eight years as a faculty member in the Health and Kinesiology Department at Purdue University. His doctoral degree is in health science from the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University, and he has a master’s degree in nutrition. Melby’s research interests include nutritional and exercise epidemiology of chronic disease, energy metabolism and the influence of diet and exercise on energy and macronutrient balance. He has authored or co-authored 70 published papers in peer reviewed scientific journals in the fields of nutrition, exercise, physiology, epidemiology and medicine. He is a regular reviewer for eight nutrition and exercise physiology journals and is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Sports Nutrition. One student noted that, "Chris encourages his students to become lifelong learners and to continually seek to understand new information."

Deborah Thompson, assistant professor, English

Thompson has her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Florida and a master’s and doctorate in English from Rice University. She has published articles in the areas of race theory, performance studies and cultural studies. She is currently completing a book entitled, "Casting Suspicions," which explores configurations of race in theatre. At Colorado State she teaches in the area of modern drama. A student said, "At the end of every lecture, there is always a line of students waiting to chat with Debby, not for negotiation of grades, but for the simple pleasure of intellectual challenge."

Stephen Thompson: professor, chemistry

Thompson teaches analytical chemistry at Colorado State and is a scientist in the Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology Education. Thompson received his bachelor’s and doctorate from the University of Birmingham, England. He has won several awards for his teaching and his research. Thompson is a University Distinguished Teaching Scholar, a Woodrow Wilson Fellow and a Min Shaugnessy Award recipient. One student said, "Dr. Stephen Thompson is the single most knowledgeable man I have ever had the honor to work and learn with. He is enlightened in so many aspects of education and life and wishes only to share that with his students."

Suzanne Tochterman, assistant professor, education

After completing an undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt, a master’s and doctorate at George Washington University, Tochterman taught students with special needs in Washington, D.C. Currently she is helping to prepare secondary teachers in the School of Education at Colorado State. One student said, "There are many teachers who talk about lofty ideas and enthusiastically promote the possibilities of education. There are few who are able to back up their ideas with hard-earned experience, integrity and who clearly follow through with their actions. Suzie is one of those people."