An assistant professor who recently announced her resignation at Iowa State has been named a Carnegie Scholar for the 2003-04 academic year.

Tracey Owens Patton, assistant professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, was one of 25 who received the prestigious honor nationwide.

Patton has been at Iowa State for three years and has taught classes on intercultural communication, she said.

According to Daily staff reports, Patton announced she would be leaving in March. She said she plans to continue to research social justice at the University of Wyoming.

Patton was nominated by the university and learned of her nomination through the Center for Teaching Excellence, she said. The process of completing official nomination forms took months, Patton said.

According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the “Carnegie Scholars Program brings together outstanding faculty committed to investing and documenting significant issues in the teaching and learning of their facts.”

Patton learned in February she had been named a Carnegie Scholar, she said.

Patton said she was attending a lecture by Pat Hutchings of the Carnegie Foundation and introduced herself to Hutchings after the lecture.

It was then Hutchings informed Patton she was a Carnegie Scholar for the 2003-04 academic year.

“I was shocked,” Patton said. “It was a wonderful surprise.”

The theme for the coming year is social justice, Patton said.

“To be honored for doing work in social justice is extremely powerful,” Patton said.

According to the Carnegie Foundation Web site, www.carnegiefoundation.org/CASTL/highered/scholars_program.htm, “The central work of the Carnegie Scholars is to create and disseminate examples of the scholarship of teaching and learning that contribute to thought and practice in the field.”

This year Patton created a social justice course allowing 30 students to help organizations in the Ames community that work with disenfranchised issues, she said.

“Students enjoy putting theory into practice,” Patton said. “The students choose an organization that they are interested in.”

Some of the organizations students have been affiliated with include ACCESS Women’s Shelter, the local chapter of the American Red Cross and Boys and Girls Club.

John Eighmey, outgoing director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, said Patton is a mentor to students and an outstanding professor.

“She’s a very innovative and articulate thinker about intercultural communication,” Eighmey said.

Patton said teaching has always been her calling.

Patton said, while growing up, she “was taught that if you saw a problem in society, to not complain about it but to do something about it.”

As an instructor, she described herself as organized but open.

“I do have several goals I want to accomplish in every class,” Patton said. “The students guide the classes and the classes are interactive.”

Emily Julius, senior in communication studies, said as a teacher, Patton is fair and is always willing to help.

“I’ve learned more in her class than any other class at Iowa State,” Julius said. “[Patton] speaks about diverse issues on a real level rather than only on politically correct terms.”

As a Carnegie Scholar, Patton said she will research and study at the Carnegie Institute three times this coming year in preparation for her project.

“I’ll be able to work with other scholars across the nation who are committed to social justice research just as much as I am,” she said.

Patton said she will leave her position at Iowa State after this semester.

“I think she is probably one of the best teachers at Iowa State and I think they are losing a great teacher,” Julius said. “She really values students’ ideas and opinions.”