FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 16, 2005

CONTACT: Daniel P. Finney, (515) 271-2833 or Daniel.Finney@drake.edu

PASSIONATE PSYCHOLOGIST EARNS DRAKE’S TOP TEACHER AWARD

Steven F. Faux, associate professor of psychology at Drake University, is the 2004-05 recipient of the Madelyn Levitt Teacher of the Year Award – the highest honor bestowed upon a Drake teacher.

The passionate educator conducts his classes with signature exuberance that students find infectious – even if they are not science or psychology majors.

“Students regularly comment on how excited he gets in class,” said Maria Clapham, professor of psychology. “They enjoy the variety of techniques he uses to communicate with students, including sometimes acting things out or even singing a song to illustrate a point.”
Faux joined Drake in 1990 after five years at Harvard Medical School where he worked on a variety of brain-function research. He earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California at Riverside and his Ph.D. from Brigham Young University. Before his work at Harvard, Faux worked at the Children’s Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla.

At Drake, Faux teaches psychology at all levels from the most advanced courses to the beginning course taken by many first-year students for science requirements. From the first day in class, it is clear Faux loves his subject matter and, moreover, loves learning and the process of intellectual curiosity.

Some years ago, a former student recalls, during an early November class, Faux began his introductory psychology course by showing an overhead projection about the history of Guy Fawkes Day, a British holiday that commemorates a plot by angry British Catholics and others to blow up British Parliament in protest.

Faux discussed his reading about Guy Fawkes Day and showed an illustration in a book he was reading. He then showed an enlargement of an engraving that spelled Fawkes “Faux,” just like the teacher himself, which led Faux to investigate whether he had an ancestor in common with these rebels from the 17th century.

“The lesson,” the former student said, “was that you should always look closer because you never really know what you’re going to learn until you investigate all possibilities. I took only one psychology class, but that lesson has stuck with me for a decade.”
And that, by Faux’s own admission, is what he seeks.

“Fifty years from now, if my students still think of me, they probably will not recall my lectures or teaching activities,” he said. “However, I do hope they remember my enthusiasm for the pursuit of learning and intellect. If I have made that enthusiasm memorable and contagious, I have succeeded as a teacher. I could have no greater reward than that.”

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