Gary Sandefur, dean of the College of Letters and Science, announced the winners of the 2008-09 College of Letters and Science Academic Staff Excellence Awards. John Stevenson, associate director, UW Survey Center received the Mid-Career award. These awards are given to recognize the contributions of L&S academic staff to the college. Recipients were honored at special ceremony.
John has served the University of Wisconsin and the UW Survey Center for 15 years — first as a project director, and, for the past 10 years, as the Associate Director of the Survey Center. During this time, he has taken an active role in improving the overall value the UW Survey Center brings to the University of Wisconsin and the survey research community more generally. In particular he has been instrumental in:
- Making the UW Survey Center a national leader in the field of data collection.
- Increasing the awareness of the Survey Center and its vast capabilities among researchers whose work could benefit from UWSC’s knowledge and expertise.
- Increasing not only the amount of work done to serve the university community, but also increasing the range and complexity of work offered to better serve researchers, collaborators, and colleagues.
- Developing the UW Survey Center beyond just data collection into a research center that conducts internal methodological research and is known for its innovation.
- Increasing the professionalization of UWSC staff by supporting professional development and improving internal procedures and continuous training and renewal of skills.
- Coordinating the variety of social science research services at UW-Madison to better serve the faculty and staff.
- Sharing the expertise and experience UWSC has throughout the college to faculty, staff, and students.
- Using UWSC’s experience and knowledge to increase learning opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.
- Making time to serve the university community through service on key University committees, particularly the Institutional Review Board (IRB) in Letters & Science.
- Increasing UWSC’s level of expertise, reputation, and service to the profession by active membership and leadership in the Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations (ASRO), the International Field Directors and Technology Conference (IFD&TC), and the American Association for Public Opinion Quarterly (AAPOR).