Physics Alumnus Honored for Teaching Excellence

Davidson alumnus Chris Hughes '88, now a professor of physics at James Madison University, was among 13 university faculty members to receive Virginia's State Council of Higher Education Outstanding Faculty Award. The honor has been bestowed annually since 1987 to selected faculty members for their excellence in teaching, research, knowledge integration and public service. This year's 13 recipients were selected from a pool of 92 nominees.

In relaying the news to his former Davidson major adviser, Professor Wolfgang Christian, Hughes referred to the time he spent under Christian's guidance in the summers of 1986 and 1987 to the present as "an unbroken line."

"I still tell my students about my experience in the research lab, and how it was when I knew what I needed to do with my career," Hughes wrote. "My passion for undergrad research started then and continues to this day. Likewise, my model for what a great professor should be was formed by you all, the other physics faculty, and all the other folks I knew there, such as Drs. King and Klein in mathematics, Drs. Bryan, Nutt and Schuh in chemistry, Drs. Lester, Partin and Barnes in history, Drs. Martin, Hess and Lindsey in economics, and Dr. Nelson in English, and all the others I met at Davidson."