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Bergen and Rypstra named Distinguished Professors

06/29/2007

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Doris Bergen and Ann L. Rypstra

Doris Bergen (educational psychology) and Ann L. Rypstra (zoology) each were awarded the title of Distinguished Professor by Miami's board of trustees June 22.

The program, established by trustees in 1981 to attract and retain the most eminent professors, carries a $6,000 per year allowance for professional expenses. A faculty committee screens nominations and conducts rigorous appraisals, including evaluations by nationally known scholars.

Bergen is co-director of Miami's Center for Human Development, Learning and Technology, and in that role has received numerous grants herself, as well as facilitated many external grants for center faculty associates.

She teaches a range of courses related to learning, human development, assessment and educational psychology. Her research interests have focused on cross-cultural programs for young children, play and humor in early and middle childhood, effects of technology-enhanced toys, adult memories of childhood play, social interactions of children with special needs, effects of early phonological awareness levels on later reading, and gifted children's humor development.

Bergen has published seven books, two of which also have been published in Chinese translation. She has published more than 40 refereed articles and 25 book chapters. In 2000, she was recognized as a Miami University Distinguished Scholar. She also received a national award as Outstanding Early Childhood Teacher Educator from the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators and was selected as a National Academy of Science visiting scholar to China.

Rypstra, who teaches at Miami's Hamilton campus, is widely regarded as one of the world's leading behavioral ecologists. She contributes to scientific research through grant funding and publication in her fields of expertise.

Rypstra, also the director of Miami's Ecology Research Center, has been principal investigator on more than $2.4 million in grants. She has published more than 50 peer-reviewed articles in leading scientific journals, more than half of which were co-authored with her students. She has directed the research center through significant facility expansions with usage today at an all-time high.

Rypstra has had sabbatical appointments with research organizations in animal behavior and community ecology at England's Oxford University and has been awarded honorary membership at Oxford's St. Peter's College.

Her standing as a leader in behavioral ecology also is recognized by the University of Aarhus in Denmark, a leading research institution where Rypstra has lectured several times in the last decade.

Other Miami faculty members who have been awarded the Distinguished Professor title include A. John Bailer (mathematics and statistics), Susan Ewing (art), Drew Cayton (history), Rick Lee (zoology), Marcia Baxter-Magolda (educational leadership), Susan Morgan (English), Peter Williams (comparative religion), Allan Winkler (history), Joseph Priest (physics emeritus) and Paul Rejai (political science emeritus).