Every year Veishea recognizes Iowa State faculty and staff by choosing a Professor of the Year and a Staff Member of the Year.

This year’s Professor of the Year, Hector Avalos, a professor of ISU’s newest academic program—Latino Studies and also of religious studies has been a member of the faculty since 1993. ISU President Martin Jischke said one student described Avalos as “an excellent professor and a champion of Iowa State students.”

At the beginning of this year Avalos was hospitalized at Mary Greeley Medical Center. He said he was “absolutely ill.”

“To go from that situation to Professor of the Year is an accomplishment for me. I’m absolutely flabbergasted,” he said. Avalos and Veishea’s Staff Member of the Year Pat Miller, coordinator of the ISU lectures program, were given their awards Thursday evening at the Veishea 1996 Faculty and Staff Recognition Reception in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

The awards were announced by Jischke, who said, “While [Veishea] is a student-run activity, the role of the faculty and staff is undeniable.”

Jischke said faculty and staff teach students to be involved not just as an undergraduates at ISU, but as a part of the community.

“You’re very important role models for these young people,” he said.

The 1995 Veishea Professor of the Year George Knaphus, a professor of botany, said that since this award is from the students, all faculty and staff “can share with me that it is nice that they noticed.”

Knaphus gave advice to members of the ISU community. “We all have a makeup of 46 chromosomes that says to us you can’t always win. You can’t always even tie, but you got to play and play to win,” Knaphus said.

Jischke said students have worked to return Veishea to its original focus—academics within the various colleges of the university.

Mark Lee, a Veishea general co-chair, said, “These individuals [the faculty and staff] make our four, five, or six years at Iowa State the best.”

Lynn Reed, Veishea’s educational outreach co-chair, said nomination forms for the awards are placed at various places around the university in March. “After the students turn in the nomination forms we separate them out by colleges,” she said.

The colleges then send the forms to each department’s student council who then chooses one professor for nomination. Reed and Michele Bailey, educational outreach co-chairs, along with faculty recognition co-chairs Amber Powell and Paul Whitson, and the general co-chairs Novotny and Lee then decide the Professor of the Year and the Staff Member of the Year. Chad Mann, a senior in history, and Cindy Whited, a junior in Latino studies, nominated Avalos. Miller was nominated by Elizabeth Andre, a freshman in liberal arts and sciences, and Novotny, who is a senior in elementary education.

Finalists in the colleges were Deland Myers, agriculture; Brian Gibson, business; Claude Singer, design; Ann Thompson, education; Gerald Chase, engineering; Wendy White, family and consumer sciences. Avalos was the finalist for the college of liberal arts and sciences.