MIDDLEBURY, Vt. -- Patricia Manley, an associate professor of geology at Middlebury College, has been selected to receive the Outstanding Educator Award for 2004 from the Association for Women Geoscientists (AWG). Just one award is given nationally each year.
The Outstanding Educator Award, established in 1988, honors "well-established college or university teachers who have played a significant role in the education and support of women geoscientists both within and outside the classroom."
According to the AWG, examples of this support include "encouraging women to enter and continue in a geoscience career, providing opportunities for field and laboratory experience, and serving as a positive role model." Honorees are also selected on the basis of their contributions as professionals, involvement with professional societies or groups, and participation in science education programs in their community.
Professor Manley, chairman of the geology department at Middlebury, received her award on November 8, at an AWG breakfast held during the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver.
A faculty member at Middlebury since 1989, Manley received her Ph.D. in marine geology and geophysics from Columbia University that year, and a B.S. in geology from Kent State University in 1970.
The author and co-author of numerous published research papers, Manley says her research is "primarily field-based and aimed at understanding how currents redistribute sediment at the bottom of large lakes, rivers and oceans. My projects focus on understanding the formation of sedimentary bedforms within this wide range of localities and water depths conditions."
For more information on the Association of Women Geoscientists and its award program, see the AWG web site.