Morningside College has awarded its 2013 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards to Dr. Kimberly Christopherson, associate professor of psychology; Dr. Heather Reid, professor of philosophy and Dr. Jill Wilson, assistant professor of music.

Christopherson	Reid	Wilson

Morningside College has awarded its 2013 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards to Dr. Kimberly Christopherson, associate professor of psychology; Dr. Heather Reid, professor of philosophy and Dr. Jill Wilson, assistant professor of music.

Morningside President John Reynders presented the awards during the annual faculty banquet held Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Sioux City Country Club. The recipients, selected from a field of applicants by a panel of three outside evaluators, will each receive a $10,000 honorarium and $3,000 to use for faculty development.

The Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards were established in 2003 by Morningside alumni Jim and Sharon Walker of Wayzata, Minn. 

Criteria for selection include teaching excellence, effective advising, scholarship and service to Morningside College. The awards are based upon the accomplishments and activities of a faculty member during the previous academic year.

Christopherson started teaching at Morningside in 2007. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minn., and a master’s degree and a doctorate from the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. The Walker Award evaluators cited Christopherson’s wide range of skills that make her a successful and effective professor, student adviser and academic scholar. 

Reid joined the Morningside faculty in 1996. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and a master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The Walker Award evaluators noted that Reid broke new ground in scholarship and teaching by publishing a new book and organizing a semester of study abroad in Italy.

Wilson has been teaching at Morningside since 2010. She received a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., a master’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa and a doctorate from Boston University. The Walker Award evaluators commended Wilson for her involvement in a wide variety of activities that benefit the college, students, professional organizations and the Sioux City community.

Evaluators for the 2013 Sharon Walker Faculty Excellence Awards were Dr. David Dobson, professor of geology, Guilford College, Greensboro, N.C.; Dr. Christopher Gilbert, professor of political science, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minn.; and Dr. John Krebs, professor of music, Hendrix College, Conway, Ark.