Roosevelt University Professor Steven A. Meyers has been selected as the 2007 Illinois Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

The announcement was made today (Nov. 15) by Lee S. Schulman, president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and John Lippincott, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. The U.S. Professors of the Year program is the only national program to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring. Entries are judged by top U.S. educators and other active participants in education.

Meyers, a child and family clinical psychologist who joined Roosevelt in 1996, teaches courses in developmental and clinical psychology, which dovetail with his scholarly interests focusing on child development, parenting, and family functioning.

"Steve is always engaging, innovative and thoughtful," said Roosevelt University President Chuck Middleton. "Each semester students flock to his courses and consistently give him the highest ratings. He is truly deserving of this prestigious award."

"I am honored to be the 2007 Illinois Professor of the Year," Meyers said. "I appreciate the support of my students, colleagues and administrators at Roosevelt who nominated me for this distinction. There are many talented professors at Roosevelt and throughout Illinois who are very invested in undergraduate education, so I am especially grateful to receive this award."

This is Meyers’ fourth award for exceptional teaching. He received the Excellence in Teaching Award from Roosevelt University in 2006, the Michigan State University Excellence-In-Teaching Citation in 1994 and the McKeachie Early Career Teaching Excellence Award from the Society for the Teaching of Psychology in 1994.

Roosevelt student Danelle Altman who has taken several courses from Meyers said: "He is the most inspirational teacher I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I feel so strongly about his teaching methods and his character in general, that I asked him to be my mentor."

Meyers believes that college should be more than just an opportunity for students to learn information. "By encouraging my students to ‘reach in, reach out and reach around,’ I try to help them to discover what they are capable of doing and who they are capable of being," he said.

In all of his undergraduate courses Meyers strives to connect the academic material with students’ personal experiences. "I ask my students to reach into their own lives to gain insight into the concepts that we discuss," he said. "I have them write about their families, how their parents raised them and how culture and race shaped their lives as they grew up."

These personal experiences are counterbalanced by having students reach out to others. Since he started teaching, his students have contributed more than 10,000 hours of service to underprivileged children.

Students taking Meyers’ courses also must "reach around" their communities. Through research projects and interview assignments, they are expected to advocate for the well-being of children by exploring issues and legislation pending in governmental bodies.

Last fall Altman and each of her classmates in Meyers’ Children and Families honors class completed 22 hours of volunteer work with children as part of the course requirements.

"Most of us had to readjust class and work schedules and sacrifice free time," she said, "but this experience brought into focus the issue of social justice within our society. Even though the class has ended, I am still a volunteer at the school, working with children, and hopefully making a difference in their lives."

To enable Roosevelt students to learn about child development from an interdisciplinary perspective, Meyers created the Initiative for Child and Family Studies (ICFS) at Roosevelt. Through the ICFS students can earn a four-course certificate by taking courses offered by the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences. The fourth class is a field placement course which involves 72 hours of direct interaction with children and families.

One of the organizations that partners with the ICFS is Roosevelt’s Mansfield Institute for Social Justice, directed by Heather Dalmage, professor of sociology. "This collaboration, like all of my experiences with Steve, leaves me energized because he has great ideas and is willing to do the work necessary to make the ideas successful realities," Dalmage said.

Meyers also is the driving force behind Roosevelt’s annual Mini-Conference on Teaching, which allows faculty members to exchange ideas on such topics as teaching methods, service learning, social justice, online education, curriculum development and library resources. The proceedings of the conference are published in a booklet and distributed to the Roosevelt faculty.

"My approach to teaching," Meyers said, "reflects many of the core values of Roosevelt University — our commitment to social justice, our community embeddedness and how we give credence to the experiences of all of our students, regardless of their background."

He said that in the years ahead, he wants to expand the ways Roosevelt students can connect learning to life. "It is very gratifying to see our undergraduates make meaningful contributions in their communities when they use material that they learn in class to help others in compassionate and just ways."

In addition to being a superb teacher, Meyers is one of Roosevelt’s most prolific scholars. He has published more than 50 articles and has given more than 50 presentations on parenting, at-risk children and on best college teaching practices.

In his research, he was able to document that successful parenting depends on where one lives. The finding is contrary to other research which says that authoritative parenting has the best results with children, regardless of race class or neighborhood. "I discovered that level of risk a child faces can be key to his or her success," he explained.

Meyers joined Roosevelt as an assistant professor of psychology in 1996 and was promoted to associate professor in 2001 and full professor in 2007. He taught at Michigan State University one year before coming to Roosevelt.

Meyers earned an A.B. degree in psychology with honors from Brown University in 1990, a M.A. in child/family clinical psychology from Michigan State University in 1992 and a Ph.D. from Michigan State in child/family clinical psychology in 1995.

Roosevelt University, a national leader in educating socially conscious citizens, is a private, student-centered university with 7,200 students studying at comprehensive campuses in the Chicago Loop and northwest suburban Schaumburg as well as online. Founded on the principles of inclusion and social justice, Roosevelt offers academic programs in arts and sciences, business, performing arts and education. According to a 2006 study in the New York Times on diversity of undergraduate students, Roosevelt University ranks 10th in the nation for private institutions. For more information, visit www.roosevelt.edu.

For more information, contact:

Thomas R. Karow
Senior Director of Public Relations
312-341-3512

Laura Janota
Public Relations Specialist
312-341-3511