Gurung named Rosenberg Professor
Prof. Regan Gurung of the Human Development academic unit has been selected to hold the Rosenberg Professorship at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay for a five-year term through 2015. The honor was announced at the University’s annual convocation of faculty and staff on Aug. 24.
Chancellor Thomas Harden presented Gurung with a ceremonial medallion and described him as a prolific scholar, extraordinary instructor and nationally prominent leader in modeling best practices in college teaching.
“In Regan Gurung, we have an exceptionally worthy recipient of this award,” Harden said in making the presentation. “That he is the reigning CASE Wisconsin Professor of the Year, and the 2011 President of the National Society for the Teaching of Psychology, speak to his achievements.”
Gurung joined the UW-Green Bay faculty in 1999. He served as the associate dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences from 2005-07.
He has received numerous local, state, and national grants for his psychological research on cultural differences in stress, social support, smoking cessation, body image and impression formation. He has published articles in a variety of scholarly journals, authored or co-authored ten books, and made more than 100 presentations at national and international conferences.
A dedicated teacher, Gurung has strong interests is promoting faculty development and student understanding. He is the co-director of the University of Wisconsin System Teaching Scholars Program, and has been a UW-Green Bay Teaching Fellow and a UW System Teaching Scholar. Gurung has received numerous honors including two UW-Green Bay Founders Association Awards for Excellence (one for teaching, one for research) in addition to this year’s professor of the year award from CASE. He was appointed a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Association for Psychological Science (APS), and is chair of the Education and Training Council for APA’s Health Psychology Division.
A native of Bombay, India, Gurung earned his Ph.D. in Social and Personality Psychology at the University of Washington. Besides his extensive professional experience, Gurung is an active community volunteer in the Green Bay area. He is currently president of the Bay Area Community Council, a member of the Howe Family Resource Center Board of Directors, LIFE Study advisory board and the Brown County Kids Count Initiative. In the past, Gurung has served on the American Cancer Society Brown County Leadership Council and Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Wellness Committee.
The Ben J. and Joyce Rosenberg Professorship was established in 1985. Ben and Joyce Rosenberg were long-time residents of Green Bay and supported UW-Green Bay from its inception. Their children, Gary Rosenberg and Barbara Rosenberg Shure, provided the funding for the memorial. The Rosenberg Professorship is open to tenured faculty members from all academic fields and recognizes a professor who has demonstrated a productive commitment to scholarship and whose work exemplifies the spirit and mission of UW-Green Bay.
In assuming the formal title of Ben J. and Joyce Rosenberg Professor, Gurung succeeds Prof. Emerita Lynn Walter of Social Change and Development, and becomes the sixth UW-Green Bay faculty member to hold the appointment. Others were David Damkoehler, Craig Lockard, Harvey Kaye and Timothy Meyer.
Named professorships are created through private gifts that support the study and research of a faculty member who has an outstanding record of scholarly accomplishment. The annual stipend associated with this particular professorship is for five years, but the recipient retains the title for life. Stipends are typically applied to research expenses or special projects benefitting students or service to the community.
The Rosenberg Professorship is one of eight named professorships at UW-Green Bay.
