President's award, Jay R. Howard

"My observation of your class and review of your course materials confirm what I had previously concluded from student evaluations of your teaching—you are an outstanding educator. You obviously enjoy teaching, and no one could believe that there was anyplace you would rather be than with that class!”"

—David A. Ford, IUPUI sociology department chair, in a peer review

Students in Jay Howard’s sociology classes are learning much more than the concepts that frame the field—they are publishing original research in prominent academic journals and presenting papers at professional meetings.

As a result of research conducted in Howard’s R251 Social Science Research Methods course, four students have co-authored refereed publications with him—two of which landed in the prestigious Journal of Higher Education. And since 1993, Howard has sponsored 25 student research paper presentations at the Midwest Student Sociology Conference.

Howard, the winner of several IU teaching awards, also is gaining a national reputation for his pedagogy. He participates in regional and national teaching initiatives sponsored by the North Central Sociological Association and the American Sociological Association (ASA), and his course materials and teaching ideas were featured in four ASA Teaching Resource Center publications. In 2000, Howard was named one of 40 sociologists nationwide to participate in the ASA Section on Undergraduate Education’s Teaching and Learning Workshop.

As the only full-time sociologist at IUPU Columbus, Howard coordinates the offerings, scheduling and staffing of all sociology courses on the campus, teaches five classes per year, advises 30 undergraduates per semester and keeps up with his scholarly pursuits in the area of religion and popular culture.

His 1999 book, Apostles of Rock: The Splintered World of Contemporary Christian Music, was selected by Choice magazine as an outstanding academic title for the year 2000.