Craig Duff

Curriculum Innovation Award Recipient, 2018

Craig Duff is a Professor of Journalism in the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications. He is an Emmy award-winning video journalist and documentary television director, producer and writer, specializing in multi-platform storytelling and solo journalism. Before joining Medill, Duff was the director of multimedia and chief video journalist for TIME. Through his earlier work with the New York Times, CNN and Turner Broadcasting, he earned numerous national awards. Duff’s summer work will lead to the addition of learning experiences with state-of-the-art multimedia techniques across several Medill classes.

“A ‘Medill Method’ of Video/Television Reporting and Production”

Duff will take the lead role in developing an innovative set of online modules to teach video editing and basic multimedia animation within multiple Medill courses. He notes that although Medill faculty members have extensive experience in the news business, “on the video and multimedia side of things, the methods of working on state-of-the-art systems and software have outpaced the knowledge of many of the teachers.” The approaches students learn through their classes, then, often lag somewhat behind current industry standards and practices.

Duff will visit leading news channels, network bureaus, digital outlets, and post-production houses in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. He will embed with top editors and will observe approaches to the technical craft of digital journalism. The modules Duff then creates, in collaboration with other Northwestern faculty members and technical staff, will accurately reflect what is happening now at top news outlets. Course experience with this standard “Medill Method” will enhance the success of Medill graduates as they enter professional news or media organizations.

The name of this award was changed in 2019 from Curriculum Development Award to Curriculum Innovation Award.

Richard Gaber

Curriculum Innovation Award Recipient, 2018

Richard Gaber is a Professor of Molecular Biosciences in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. For many years, he was also the Director of the College’s Program in Biological Sciences, housing Northwestern’s undergraduate major in biological sciences and courses taken by students in many other fields as well. Under Gaber’s directorship, the program undertook a major restructuring of its undergraduate curriculum, funded by a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Foundation. Goals included earlier and stronger emphases on inquiry-based and interactive learning and on analytic reasoning. Gaber’s work will further enhance the three foundational laboratory courses introduced as part of the general restructuring.  “Enhancing Biological Sciences Laboratory Courses using S. commune”

Gaber’s proposal involves enhancements to Northwestern’s foundational laboratory courses in Biological Sciences, a set of three courses whose combined enrollment typically totals around 800 students each year. He is developing a series of projects using multiple strains of the mushroom-forming fungus Schizophyllum commune. This fungus is found on all continents except Antarctica and is thought to harbor more genetic diversity than any other organism. Gaber will visit forests, logging operations, and woodpiles across the U.S. to collect a geographically diverse array of S. commune specimens for use by students in the lab courses.

Students’ laboratory work with S. commune will continue across all three laboratory courses and involve increasingly sophisticated experiments, data acquisition approaches, and analyses. The diversity among specimens will allow each small group of students to analyze their own unique strain, increasing their interest and motivation. Students from different groups will also mate their fungi and perform morphological and genetic analyses of the progeny. They will generate new data and develop and test their own, original hypotheses, while gaining experience working as a team. At the same time, they will learn key biological principles and research techniques and approaches.

The name of this award was changed in 2019 from Curriculum Development Award to Curriculum Innovation Award.

Alicia Boler Davis

Distinguished Alumnae Award Recipient, 2017

Alicia Boler Davis

The Alumnae Award recognizes a woman who has brought honor to Northwestern University through outstanding professional contributions in her field and who has attained national recognition. Established in 1976, the Alumnae Award has been presented every year to an alumna who has had a significant impact in her field of endeavor. Educators, journalists, doctors, scientists, and artists are included among The Alumnae’s roster of awardees.

Alicia Boler Davis is executive vice president, General Motors Manufacturing. Her responsibilities include manufacturing engineering and labor relations. She is a member of the GM Senior Leadership Team and the GM Korea Board of Directors.

Boler Davis, who holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Northwestern University, also received a master’s degree in engineering science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an MBA from Indiana University. She began her GM career in 1994 as a manufacturing engineer at the Midsize/Luxury Car Division in Warren, Michigan. During her career, she has held many positions of increasing responsibility in manufacturing, engineering, and product development.

Previously, Boler Davis was senior vice president, Global Connected Customer Experience at GM, where she led the company’s connected customer activities, including infotainment, OnStar, and GM’s Urban Active personal mobility initiatives. She now leads about 180,000 employees at 171 facilities that manufacture tens of thousands of cars, trucks, and SUVs every day. In her role as chief of labor relations, she interacts with all unions representing hourly workers around the world as partners in driving employee engagement – a difficult task with 45 different unions representing hourly workers in 31 countries.

Numerous organizations and publications have recognized Boler Davis for her professional accomplishments and community service. Of note, in 2014 she was named Technologist of the Year by Women of Color magazine. In 2013, Fortune magazine named her one of the 10 most powerful women in the automotive industry  In 2010, Automotive News included Boler Davis in its list of the 100 Leading Women in the North American Automotive Industry.

She serves on the board of directors of General Mills, is a member of the Northwestern University McCormick Advisory Council, and a board trustee of the Care House of Oakland County, Michigan. Boler Davis also serves as Executive Liaison for the GM WOMEN leadership board.