UMaine Professor Eric Landis Honored by the Carnegie Foundation
Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571
The Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) established the Professors of the Year Program in 1981. CASE works in cooperation with the Carnegie Foundation and various higher education associations to administer the award, nominees for which can be teachers at public or private institutions of higher learning. Winners are selected based on outstanding teaching, commitment to undergraduate students and influence on teaching. There is one award winner from each state, along with four national award winners.
Landis earned a Ph.D. in civil engineering from Northwestern University in 1993, and joined the UMaine faculty in 1994. He received the 2004 Distinguished Maine Professor Award, presented each year by the alumni association in recognition of faculty achievement.
“We are pleased that Eric has received this prestigious recognition from the Carnegie Foundation,” says Todd Saucier, president of the University of Maine Alumni Association, which nominated Landis for the Professor of the Year award. “Generations of UMaine students have benefited from the the dedication and expertise of UMaine’s faculty, and Eric is a wonderful example of that tradition.”
Landis, who is a prolific scholar with more than 75 scholarly publications to his name, also received UMaine’s Presidential Outstanding Teaching Award in 2002. He earned a prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award in 1998, and was named UMaine Civil Engineering Professor of the Year in 1996. His academic specialty involves studying the relationship between material microstructure and engineering properties of concrete and other materials.
“I am extremely flattered by this honor,” Landis say. “There is no question that working with students is the most rewarding part of my job. I believe this award highlights our teaching efforts here at UMaine, and while this is a research university, teaching, at all levels, is the most important thing we do.”
Landis, who is certified as a registered professional engineer, lives in Orono with his wife and two daughters.
“I often can not believe my good fortune to be here at the University of Maine,” Landis says. “I work with some truly great teachers and scholars who make the university an exciting and stimulating environment on a daily basis. We are doing world-class research here, but there is a tightness between students and faculty unlike any place I have ever been. We can have heated debates during class in the morning, and have pizza together at Pat’s in the evening.”
“A scholar of the first order, Eric enjoys a great deal of well-deserved respect from his students and his colleagues,” says UMaine President Robert Kennedy. “This award, which singles out Eric among the many outstanding faculty members all across Maine, validates our belief that he is a truly exemplary professor. He is most worthy of this great honor.”