January 23, 2001

Middlebury College names Thomas

Root recipient of the Perkins Award for Excellence in

Teaching

MIDDLEBURY, Vt.—Middlebury

College has named Professor of Biology Thomas Root the recipient of

the 2001 Perkins Award for Excellence in Teaching. At 4:15 p.m. on

Tuesday, Feb. 13, an award ceremony will be held in Room 104 of

Bicentennial Hall on Bicentennial Way off College Street (Route

125).

The award is given each year to a

member of Middlebury College’s natural sciences division,

alternating each year between a faculty member in the mathematics and

computer science department and a faculty member in one of the other

four departments in this division—biology, chemistry, geology,

and physics. As the award’s name suggests, it honors outstanding

performance as a teacher.

Root earned a bachelor’s of

science in biology at the University of Detroit, and a master’s

and doctorate in zoology and physiology at the University of Wyoming.

From 1974 to 1979, he served at various times as a research

assistant, a teaching assistant, and a visiting instructor in biology

at the University of Wyoming. In 1979, Root joined the faculty of

Middlebury College as assistant professor of biology. In 1985, he

became an associate professor and a health professions

advisor—positions he held until 1990 when he was named

professor. Since then Root has served the College in a variety of

capacities, including director of the animal facility, director of

the program in neuroscience, and chair of the biology department. He

is a member of various scientific and research organizations and the

recipient of a number of grants.

The Professor Llewellyn R. Perkins

and Dr. Ruth M.H. Perkins Memorial Faculty Research Fund, which

provides the award, was made possible by the gift of Dr. Ruth M.H.

Perkins, a 1932 Middlebury graduate, in memory of her husband,

Professor Llewellyn R. Perkins. Professor Perkins taught at

Middlebury College from 1914 until his retirement in 1941. During the

course of his tenure at Middlebury, he founded and chaired the

mathematics department.

Their children, Marion Perkins

Harris, a 1957 Middlebury graduate and science teacher, and Dr. David

L. Perkins, a physician, augmented the fund and expanded the scope of

the award

to honor their mother, Ruth, as well.

She was a Vermont State helping teacher and a professor of math

education at Temple University in Philadelphia.

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