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The American Psychological Foundation (APF) will honor Jane S. Halonen, PhD, with its 2000 Award for the Distinguished Teaching of Psychology, at the APFAPA Awards Ceremony on Saturday, Aug. 5. She will deliver her award address, "Teaching as alchemy," on Friday, Aug. 6 at 2 p.m.
Halonen received her undergraduate degree in psychology from Butler University in Indianapolis and pursued clinical training at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee, where she decided to become a college teacher once she experienced the challenges of her teaching assistant assignment.
"Regardless of the context in which teaching and learning occur," says Halonen, "I remain fascinated by the mixture of planning, expertise, bravado, resilience, luck and magic that constitute excellence in teaching."
Halonen began her academic career in 1981 at Alverno College, a small private college for women in Milwaukee, and attributes much of her teaching success to the inspiring Alverno environment and to the Wilbert McKeachie, PhD, text, "Teaching Tips" (Lexington, 9th Ed., 1994). Early in her career at Alverno, she established a national network of psychologists to explore what critical thinking means in the context of psychology, and it has remained a dominant theme of her scholarship.
In 1998, Halonen assumed the position of director of school psychology at James Madison University. She has been president of the Council of Teachers of Undergraduate Psychology and is the president of APA Div. 2 (Society for the Teaching of Psychology). Currently, she serves as associate editor for the journal Teaching of Psychology, and she is an advisory board member for the international Improving Teaching conference. She served on the APA steering committees of both the 1991 St. Mary's Conference and of the 1999 Psychology Partnership Project Conference. She is also a member of the task force that is exploring the next phase of the Preparing Future Faculty Initiative.
With the assistance and encouragement of Ludy T. Benjamin, Jr., PhD, Halonen developed a strong interest in high school psychology and has served as a faculty consultant at numerous high-school teacher institutes, as a Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools advisor and as part of the management team for the advanced placement readings of the Educational Testing Service.
Ted Baroody is the assistant director of the American Psychological Foundation.
