CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Six faculty members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have been chosen to be University Scholars. The program recognizes excellence while helping to identify and retain the university's most talented teachers, scholars and researchers. The scholars from the Urbana campus will be recognized during a reception and dinner today (Feb. 9) at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Urbana.
Now in its 18th year, the program provides $10,000 to each scholar to use to enhance his or her academic career. The money may be used for travel, equipment, research assistants, books or other purposes. Seven scholars were recognized at the Chicago campus and one at Springfield.
"A University Scholar designation is the highest honor we bestow upon our young faculty," said Chet Gardner, vice president for academic affairs for the university. "This recognition is especially meaningful since recipients are nominated and selected by their peers. These awards not only acknowledge the superb accomplishments of the recipients, but also symbolize the university's commitment to foster outstanding people and their work."
Since the program began in 1985, 390 scholars have been named and about $8.7 million has been awarded to support their teaching and research. Funding for the program comes from private gifts to the Advancement Fund of the University of Illinois.
The Urbana scholars, their departments and a summary of their expertise, according to the nominating documentation:
 | | Photo by Bill Wiegand | Georgia Earnest Garcia curriculum and instruction | | |
• Georgia Earnest Garcia, curriculum and instruction. A member of the faculty in the department of curriculum and instruction since 1989, Garcia conducts research on how bilingual children learn to read, focusing on the assets that they bring to early literacy instruction.
Garcia's research, entirely classroom-based, was influential in changing current practices in bilingual education. Her consistent and sustained interest in the literacy learning of children from diverse backgrounds has also benefited from her mastery of a multicultural and sociolinguistic focus to reading research.
 | | Photo by Bill Wiegand | Nan Goggin School of Art and Design | | |
• Nan Goggin, School of Art and Design. Goggin began her career in graphic design, with a particular emphasis on book design. She continues to explore this area, concurrent with her research in emerging electronic media. Her peers consistently recognize her book designs as among the best in the field. From 1996 to 1999, four of her books were recognized with major national design awards. In 2000 she co-founded the new Narrative Media program in the School of Art and Design. She has been named more than a dozen times to the Incomplete List of teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students.
 | | Photo by Bill Wiegand | Rodney W. Johnson, animal sciences | | |
• Rodney W. Johnson, animal sciences. Johnson has established a model research program and, in a relatively short time, has established himself as a leading international authority on immuno-physiological interactions. His investigations are focused and are pertinent to both the biomedical community and to furthering understanding of the effects of disease on productive processes in farm animals. He developed all of the laboratory and discussion materials and is responsible for all of the course instruction in the undergraduate course "Behavior of Domestic Animals." He was recognized for his efforts in graduate teaching in 1999 with his department's H.H. Mitchell Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching and Research.
 | | Photo by Bill Wiegand | | | | |
• Todd Martinez, chemistry. Martinez, who has been at Illinois for five years, has focused his research on understanding the reactions of molecules in ultrafine detail - to specify exactly how the atoms move in space and how the energies of the molecules change over time. He has developed a vastly improved method for calculating these phenomena from first principles, which he calls ab initio multiple spawning (AIMS). He has made impressive demonstrations of how the AIMS method can be used to attack important problems in chemical dynamics that have hitherto resisted solution.
Martinez is considered a master in the classroom, where he introduces students to the beauty and subtlety of quantum mechanics.
 | | Photo by Bill Wiegand | Robin McFarquhar, theater | | |
• Robin McFarquhar, theater. One of the leading theater movement specialists and stage-fight choreographers in the nation, McFarquhar has worked consistently at major professional theaters since the early 1990s. He is a mainstay at the Chicago, Idaho, Illinois and Virginia Shakespeare festivals, where he has been fight director for more than 40 productions. He also teaches other movement techniques and skills, such as acrobatics, juggling and circus and clowning. He has been named an outstanding teacher on the Incomplete List of teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students for 70 different classes since 1983.
 | | Photo by Bill Wiegand | Philip W. Phillips, physics | | |
• Philip W. Phillips, physics. Phillips' research is focused on one of the central and most highly competitive areas of modern condensed matter theory: the nonperturbative physics of disordered and/or strongly correlated electron systems. His bold and creative theoretical contributions, characterized by their close ties with experiment, have had far-reaching and lasting impact on a broad range of problems in seemingly quite distinct physical systems. Throughout his career, he has confronted challenging problems on the cutting edge of condense matter physics, using experiment to inform theory and catalyzing debate on important issues for both. A dedicated, conscientious and well prepared instructor, Phillips took the lead in stimulating the department's restructuring of Physics 101, the introductory algebra-based general mechanics course, to promote mastery of physical principles instead of rote formula crunching.