NICC instructor named Iowa Professor of the Year

NICC Dairy Science instructor David Lawstuen has been named the 2011 Iowa Professor of the Year by The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

Lawstuen has served as the lead Dairy Science professor at NICC since 1995.  He is also chair of dairy operations for the Northeast Iowa Community-Based Dairy Foundation, a position he has held since the organization's founding in 2000.

Lawstuen's honor makes him the third Iowa Professor of the Year recipient at NICC in the past eight years.  Cheryl Donlon, a retired NICC Calmar Campus science instructor, received the honor in 2003, and James Brimeyer, an NICC Communications instructor at the Peosta campus, won the award in 2005.

NICC President Liang Chee Wee, Ph.D., said the recognition for Lawstuen is richly deserved, considering hLawstuen's extensive experience in the dairy science field, in agricultural education and his approach as an educator.  "The quality about Dave that would earn a Iowa Professor of the Year honor is the passion he brings to his classroom. He has his own dairy operation, so what he is teaching his students he is living every day," said Wee. "As a dairy science professional and teacher, Dave cares about the animals in the dairy herd and communicates this to his students – he conveys how important it is to have respect for all living things."