President Gregory Hess welcomes the audience during Awards Chapel.
Division I Chair Scott Feller honored the Division I seniors receiving Distinction in Comprehensive Exams.
Professor of Biology Amanda Ingram presented the Ernest G. Carscallen Prize in Biology to Adam Barnes and Cameron Waller.
Jean Williams H’53 and Professor of Biology Amanda Ingram with the Eliot C. Williams Undergraduate Prize of Biology winner Wesley Ryan Hauser.
Thomas A. Cole Alumni Prize in Biology Award winner Michael Chudzik Washburn ’09
Professor of Chemistry presented Taylor Allen Neal with the Edgar C. Britton Memorial Award in Chemistry.
Howell Chemistry Award winners Evan Coudriet, Ivan Koutsopatriy, and Steven Paris
Professor of Math Will Turner presents the George E. Carscallen prize in Mathematics to Anh Hoai Bao Nguyen.
Jia Qi was presented with the Harold Q Fuller Prize in Physics by Professor James Brown.
Division II Chair Cheryl Hughes honored the Division II seniors receiving Distinction in Comprehensive Exams.
Professor of Art Doug Calisch presented Ryan Horner and Nikolas Jones with the David B. Greene Award for Distinguished Work in Art History.
The Randolph H. Deer Outstanding & Continued Work in Art Prize winners James Kennedy, German Padilla, and John Vosel
Professor of Classics Jeremy Hartnett with the McLain Prize in Classics winner Samuel Cody Bennett
The Nicolas Harrison Essay Awards winners Nathan Manning, Austin Budell, and Alan Camacho
Professor of English Warren Rosenberg presented Stephen Colliver Batchelder with the Robert S. Edwards Award in Creative Writing.
The Ruth Margaret Farber Award in English was awarded to Ryan Michael Horner.
The Walter L. Fertig Prize in English winners Nathan Harris Chapman and James Scott Morrison with English Professor Warren Rosenberg
Wesley Ryan Hauser was presented the Robert O. Petty Nature Writing Prize by English Professor Warren Rosenberg.
Modern Languages Professor Gilberto Gómez and Cory Jacob Kopitzke, the Robert King German Prize winner.
Professor of Modern Language Gilberto Gómez presented the Annie Crim Leavenworth French Prize to Philip Kubisz.
The Kudlaty Senior Spanish Award was presented to Patrick Stroud.
Professor of Philosophy Glen Helman presents Samuel Cody Bennett and Michael Page Witczak with the J. Harry Cotton Philosophy Prize.
The John N. Mills Prize in Religion was awarded to Stephen Batchelder (1st), Shane Hoerbert (2nd), and Joseph Mount (2nd).
Professor of Religion Derek Nelson ’99 presented Matthew Michaloski with the John N. Mills Fellowship in Religion.
Rick Warner, a 15-year teaching veteran at Wabash College, received the McLain-McTurnan-Arnold Excellence in Teaching Award Thursday at the College’s annual honors convocation, Awards Chapel.
Warner holds the Evans Chair in the Social Sciences at the liberal arts college in Crawfordsville.
With a penchant for meaningful conversation, Warner “is universally regarded as an outgoing advocate for the liberal arts, for teaching excellence, and for students,” said Dean of the College Gary A. Phillips in presenting the prestigious award. “Students describe the classroom experience as friendly, welcoming, engaging, rigorous, a place where any and all questions can be asked, a safe space for contested ideas, where different opinions, persons, and experiences can be encountered and respected, a common ground for debating the meaty social and political issues of our time.”
The Excellence in Teaching Award honors the memories of Reid H. McLain ’27, Clair McTurnan ’10, and Kent Arnold ’29, and has been given annually to a member of the faculty who has distinguished him or herself by innovative and engaging teaching since 1965.
“A liberal arts school,” said Dr. Warner, “is an ideal place for students to take full charge of their education. I endeavor to learn what I can about each student’s learning style, so that our connections can be more genuine. I can talk all day about [my interests] because I have a fire in my belly for it, but I will not reach students for long unless I understand something about how they are interpreting my banter. To understand one another, we must come to know one another.”
Warner joined the Wabash faculty in 1999 after completing bachelor’s degrees at the University of Vermont and the University of California, Santa Cruz; and a master’s degree and Ph.D. at UCSC. Prior to his arrival at Wabash, Warner was a visiting assistant professor at the University of Utah.
His teaching centers on Latin American, African, and World History with a focus on the indigenous history of Mexico, Latin American religious history and more recently, the global history of food. The latter becoming a seminar spotlighting Mayan archaeoastronomy.
Warner carries an impressive administrative record, as well. He is the Chair of the History Department, served as the associate Dean of Students from 2008-09, and chaired the Off-Campus Study, Faculty Development, Teacher Education, and International Studies Committees at Wabash.
In addition to outstanding work in the classroom at Wabash, Warner serves as the faculty coordinator for international programs, and serves or has served as a faculty advisor for Unidos Por Sangre, the Independent Men’s Association, and sh’OUT.
“Rick goes to extraordinary lengths to meet the student where he is and to speak with him; he does the same with staff, alumni, and faculty,” said Dr. Phillips. “The recipe is the same: invite the student, the colleague, to engage, to conjure, to stir up new ideas, to imagine how we together can make Wabash a vibrant home where all can thrive and teach and learn from one another.”
His teaching covers all levels, from surveys to seminars and he has presented or published more than 45 papers and received 10 grants or fellowships. Additionally, he is president-elect of the World History Association and has been an advance placement consultant for the Educational Testing Service for 13 years.
Warner is passionate in his belief that learning is an active and on-going process. The experience only begins in the classroom.
“The learning process at Wabash only starts in the classroom,” Warner said. “The classroom is a spark. My goal is never to change somebody or convince somebody or make them believe or understand, but to open up questions because that’s the life of the mind. That will happen in some cool ways on immersion trips, over lunch, in my kitchen, in some random meeting on the mall, and after they graduate. I feel blessed to do what I enjoy so much and to be surrounded by so many people who teach so well.”
Outside of his academic interests, Warner is an accomplished chef and organic gardener whose soups produced for social science colloquia have become legendary on campus.