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Scott Minar and Frank LoSchiavo recognized with Regional Higher Education Outstanding Professor Awards
One teacher has been referred to as the Pied Piper of education and the other has been described as making numbers fun, practical and engaging for students. Bottom line, the 2010 Regional Higher Education Outstanding Professors—Scott Minar and Frank LoSchiavo—help regional campus students succeed while epitomizing the qualities of the best regional campus faculty: competent scholars, good campus citizens dedicated to service, and excellent teachers.
The award honors faculty at regional campuses who have demonstrated excellence in teaching and scholarship, as well as have an outstanding record of service to their campus and the university. The recipient of the award carries the designation Outstanding Professor, Regional Campuses, for two years and receives an honorarium of $3,000 annually for each of those two years. Each campus may make one nomination each year and up to two individuals may be recognized in the regional campus system.
Scott Minar, Professor of English, Lancaster Campus
Scott Minar has been compared to the Pied Piper of education because he is often seen in the hallways of campus trailed by enthusiastic students.
“He challenges and excites students about his subject,” John Furlow, dean of the Lancaster Campus, said. “The campus committee that nominated him recognized his many positive efforts on behalf of students and his efforts to make the Lancaster Campus a better place for faculty and for learning.”
In addition to teaching writing and literature, Minar has directed the Campus’ learning center, served as advisor to the student literary journal and held faculty leadership positions.
Minar’s full-length collections of poetry, The Palace of Reasons and The Body’s Fire, were published in 2006 and 2002, respectively. He and Edward Dougherty wrote Exercises for Poets: Double Bloom, also published in 2006. Minar edited The Working Poet: 75 Writing Exercises and a Poetry Anthology, published in 2009.
Novelist and poet Joyce Carol Oates nominated Minar for a Pushcart Prize, declaring his work “a remarkable find.” Mark Strand, Pulitzer Prize winner and former Poet Laureate of the United States described Minar’s essay on Man and Camel as “one of the best things written about me.”
Minar received the The Emerson Prize for poetry from Ohio University, Prize Poem from the Steele Memorial Library Open Poetry Contest and the The Prize Poem Award from LaSalle College.
His essays, fiction, poetry and reviews have appeared in The Antioch Review, Ariel, The Georgia Review, High Plains Literary Review, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Organization and Environment, The Paris Review, Parnassus Literary Journal, Prairie Schooner, West Branch, The Westminster Review and other publications throughout the United States and Canada.
He also has written scripts for film and radio.
Prior to joining the Lancaster Campus faculty ten years ago, Minar taught at Bowling Green State University, Elmira College and Ohio University and was a guest lecturer in English at Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Though he may be the Pied Piper of education on campus, outside of work Minar’s musical instruments of choice are his vocal chords and a guitar. He and colleague Patrick Drumm (associate professor of psychology) perform as “Stanley” at private functions and enjoy a regular gig at Port City Pub in Portsmouth. They also performed at the Chautauqua Poetry Festival.
Frank LoSchiavo, Associate Professor in Psychology, Zanesville Campus
Frank LoSchiavo is recognized by both his students and his colleagues for his passion for teaching.
Zanesville Dean James Fonseca said LoSchiavo’s scholarly articles are often related to his first love, that of teaching.
“Someone who writes about humor in the classroom is someone I want to take a course from!” Fonseca stated in a letter supporting LoSchiavo’s nomination. “Many of our students do so and they learn immensely in his classes while enjoying learning at the hands of a master.”
Whether measured by student evaluation scores that are always above average or through peer visitation in the classroom, LoSchiavo’s teaching is stellar. His teaching achievements have been recognized by others such as Ohio Magazine as a Teacher of the Year and as a nominee for Teacher of the Year by the Ohio Association of Two Year Colleges.
His scholarly publications include articles in such journals as American Psychologist, Teaching of Psychology, and Memory and Cognition.
His service to the campus as faculty chair, an honor bestowed upon him in recognition of his past record of substantial work on behalf of the campus, demonstrates his servant leadership. He also assists faculty colleagues with statistical matters pertaining to their research and has thus contributed to a number of publications that do not have his name on them.
LoSchiavo’s students typically provide extremely positive comments on their written course evaluation forms.
“Frank really made the class enjoyable. He is a very good instructor,” one PSY 120 student wrote. “He is willing to help with anything you’re not understanding.”
“Best class I have ever taken,” a PSY 336 student said, while another added, “Professor LoSchiavo has a large amount of enthusiasm for this course. He keeps the students awake with his quick wit and humor.”
Even the student whose expectations for PSY 221 were low finished the course saying “Somehow he manages to make statistics interesting.”
In addition to his campus service and teaching, LoSchiavo volunteers as a mediator with the Muskingum County Court.
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