Undergraduate
Saint Michael's professor receives top award at Vermont Campus Compact annual conference
Political Scientist Patricia Siplon receives Engaged Scholar Award
Contact Information:
Buff Lindau, Public Relations
802.654.2536
blindau@smcvt.edu
Author of three scholarly books on AIDS policy in the U.S. and abroad, Saint Michael's College Political Science Professor Patricia Siplon is as engaged in teaching and in involving her students in her research as she is in scholarship. Her outstanding qualities combining scholarship, teaching and involving students landed her the top award, the Engaged Scholar Award, at the Vermont Campus Compact 2009 "Through a Civic Lens" Conference, held April 1, in the Davis Center at the University of Vermont.
Professor Siplon was cited for her "integration of teaching, research and service at the very heart of her professional life." She was especially
praised for "her willingness to welcome students to share in her own research projects as well as to inspire and encourage them to pursue their own areas of scholarly interest and to skillfully mentor them when they find it."
Among her achievements, noted at the ceremony, were: using her research to address the HIV/AIDS crisis; securing grants to support her research/travel to Africa and Barbados, and that of her students; support of the Ilula Orphan Program for HIV/AIDS orphans in Tanzania; creating international service-learning courses; forming a very active Student Global AIDS Campaign on campus, and much more.
Scholarship
In addition to her three books, Professor Siplon has published many journal articles and book chapters. Her article, published with her student Jamila Headley '06, titled "Roadblocks on the Road to Treatment: Lessons from Brazil and Barbados," has been described as "the first time a major mainstream political science journal devoted significant attention to the issue of HIV/AIDS as a general topic of interest to political scientists." This reinforces her perspective that HIV/AIDS is a political and economic issue first and a medical issue secondarily.
Student endorsement
Professor Siplon's student, Kate Mooney '09, who has taken her courses, written a grant with her, and travelled with her repeatedly to Tanzania, said of her professor, "I can confidently state that she is among the most inspiring, passionate, engaging professors and social justice activists I have met." Ms. Mooney said further about including students in her grants and taking them to research sites, "While it may be easier for Trish to conduct her research without students, she sees this as an opportunity to engage students in the struggles beyond their communities and to instill a passion in them to create change in the world."
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.
Buff Lindau, Public Relations
802.654.2536
blindau@smcvt.edu
Author of three scholarly books on AIDS policy in the U.S. and abroad, Saint Michael's College Political Science Professor Patricia Siplon is as engaged in teaching and in involving her students in her research as she is in scholarship. Her outstanding qualities combining scholarship, teaching and involving students landed her the top award, the Engaged Scholar Award, at the Vermont Campus Compact 2009 "Through a Civic Lens" Conference, held April 1, in the Davis Center at the University of Vermont.Professor Siplon was cited for her "integration of teaching, research and service at the very heart of her professional life." She was especially
praised for "her willingness to welcome students to share in her own research projects as well as to inspire and encourage them to pursue their own areas of scholarly interest and to skillfully mentor them when they find it."
Among her achievements, noted at the ceremony, were: using her research to address the HIV/AIDS crisis; securing grants to support her research/travel to Africa and Barbados, and that of her students; support of the Ilula Orphan Program for HIV/AIDS orphans in Tanzania; creating international service-learning courses; forming a very active Student Global AIDS Campaign on campus, and much more.
Scholarship
In addition to her three books, Professor Siplon has published many journal articles and book chapters. Her article, published with her student Jamila Headley '06, titled "Roadblocks on the Road to Treatment: Lessons from Brazil and Barbados," has been described as "the first time a major mainstream political science journal devoted significant attention to the issue of HIV/AIDS as a general topic of interest to political scientists." This reinforces her perspective that HIV/AIDS is a political and economic issue first and a medical issue secondarily.
Student endorsement
Professor Siplon's student, Kate Mooney '09, who has taken her courses, written a grant with her, and travelled with her repeatedly to Tanzania, said of her professor, "I can confidently state that she is among the most inspiring, passionate, engaging professors and social justice activists I have met." Ms. Mooney said further about including students in her grants and taking them to research sites, "While it may be easier for Trish to conduct her research without students, she sees this as an opportunity to engage students in the struggles beyond their communities and to instill a passion in them to create change in the world."
Saint Michael's College, founded in 1904 by the Society of St. Edmund and headed by President John J. Neuhauser, is identified by the Princeton Review as one of the nation's Best 368 Colleges. A liberal arts, residential, Catholic college, Saint Michael's is located just outside of Burlington, Vermont, one of America's top college towns and less than two hours from Montreal. As one of only 270 institutions nationwide with a prestigious Phi Beta Kappa chapter on campus, Saint Michael's has 2,000 full-time undergraduate students, some 500 graduate students and 200 international students. In recent years Saint Michael's students and professors have received Rhodes, Woodrow Wilson, Guggenheim, Fulbright, National Science Foundation and other grants, and Saint Michael's professors have been named Vermont Professor of the Year in four of the last eight years. The college is currently listed as one of the nation's Best Liberal Arts Colleges in the 2009 U.S. News & World Report rankings.
