Design professor receives 2012 H.O.P.E. Award
LAWRENCE – Phillip Hofstra, professor of design, was awarded the 2012 H.O.P.E. Award during the Nov. 17 KU vs. Iowa State football game in Memorial Stadium at the University of Kansas.
Established by the Class of 1959, the H.O.P.E. Award -- Honor for an Outstanding Progressive Educator -- recognizes outstanding teaching and concern for students and is the only honor for teaching excellence given exclusively by seniors on the Lawrence campus through a ballot-and-interview process.
Finalists introduced alongside Hofstra were:
· Gerald Mikkelson, professor in Russian, East European and Eurasian studies
· Victor Frost, Dan F. Servey Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
· Michael Shaw, associate professor of classics
· Jeanne Klein, associate professor of theatre
Hofstra has had a wide-ranging career at KU, including graduate student, two stints as a professor and associate dean.
He was professor emeritus in the Department of Design from 1987 until 2007, and he served as the School of Fine Arts' associate dean between 1997 and 2000.
Hofstra is also an architect, and between 2001 and 2011 he worked as design director and principal for HOK Sport, a Kansas City, Mo., architecture firm. While working there and teaching he earned his doctorate from KU's American studies program.
He returned in 2010 to the KU School of Architecture, Design and Planning as professor of design.
"Really, this award belongs to the School," said Hofstra, who has taught courses in both the departments of Architecture and Design.
"Our faculty teach studio classes that bring us together with the same students up to 12 hours per week. That sets up a structure that allows us to engage in very student-focused exchanges. That is our teaching method, and that is our culture."
H.O.P.E. winners receive a monetary award and recognition on a permanent plaque displayed in the Kansas Union.