Bill Anderson, Richard Hughes, and Ben Stiers will receive the Outstanding University Teaching Award at the Founders Day celebration on February 15.
Anderson and Hughes will be honored with the Outstanding University Teaching Award for tenured faculty.
Bill Anderson
Anderson is an associate professor in Illinois State University’s Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS). He joined the faculty at Illinois State in 2006 and was promoted to associate professor in 2012. Teaching graduate courses in research theory application and cross-cultural human development, he also leads undergraduate classes concerning couple relationships, and adolescence and emerging adulthood. Over the years, he has also chaired 15 master’s theses and has served as the department’s honors liaison since 2010. He has received recognition of his teaching on several occasions, including the Phyllis Memken Outstanding Teacher Award in FCS three times, the University Teaching Initiative Award in 2009, the Impact Award in 2013 and 2014, and the College of Applied Science and Technology Outstanding Teacher Award in 2015. Most recently, he was awarded Teacher of Honor status from the Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society for Educators. Anderson has also been involved with the creation of two registered student organizations in the department—the Child Life Club and the ISU-Council on Family Relations (ISU-CFR). The ISU-CFR was also named ISU’s Small RSO of the Year in 2015 and 2017. Largely due to his work with these two groups, Anderson has also been recognized for his role as a mentor, receiving the 2015 Faculty Mentor Award from the Illinois Council on Family Relations and the 2016 Award for Meritorious Service from the Affiliates Councils Board of the National Council on Family Relations. Anderson currently serves as the national student affiliate advisor representative to the NCFR. He earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the University of Alabama.
Richard Hughes
Hughes is an associate professor in Illinois State’s Department of History. A former high school teacher and a current faculty member in the history and social science education program, Hughes teaches courses in teaching methods as well as courses at all levels in United States history. Outside of Schroeder Hall, his teaching has included instruction in high schools throughout the state, an historical archive at Indiana University, an online general education course, and multiple study abroad trips to Western Europe. He has received numerous teaching awards including the College of Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award (Social Sciences) in 2011, and the John A. Dossey Award for Outstanding Teaching in the College of Arts and Sciences in 2013. He has also received grants from the Office of the Cross Chair in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning as his research interests range from American social and cultural history, especially in the area of race, to the role of historic cognition in the growth of history teacher candidates. The latter interest has led to projects such as a special topics course that integrated the burgeoning research in history education with modern U.S. history. More recently, Hughes is involved with a study of Illinois State University teacher candidates who student teach in both Illinois and England that will be published as a chapter entitled, “Teaching History in a Place with a Different History: Theory and Practice in England and the United States.” He received his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas.
Stiers will be honored with the Outstanding University Teaching Award for non-tenure track faculty.
Ben Stiers
Stiers is an instructional assistant professor in the School of Music and serves as the assistant director of Athletic Bands and Percussion. He directs the ISU Drumline and Pep Band, serves as assistant director of the Big Red Marching Machine and ISU Percussion Ensemble, and teaches applied percussion lessons and various additional courses for the School of Music. For the past three fall semesters, he has also been an instructor for the Honors Mindset Seminar. Stiers has traveled with the Big Red Marching Machine to performances such as the Bands of America Grand National Championships in 2014, the FCS National Football Championship Game in 2015, and the Dublin St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2017 (where the band was awarded Best Overall Band). He currently serves on the Percussive Arts Society’s Education Committee and chairs the subcommittee responsible for producing The PAS Educators’ Companion, an online resource for music educators whose primary instrument is not percussion. He holds a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Kentucky.
