Harald Prins selected as CASE Professor of the Year for Kansas

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Source: Harald E.L. Prins, 785-532-4966; prins@k-state.edu
Pronouncer: Prins is prinz
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Note to editor: doctoraal is correct
News release prepared by: Cheryl May, 785-532-6415, may@k-state.edu

Thursday, November 16, 2006

K-State's Ninth CASE Top Prof:
HARALD PRINS SELECTED AS CASE PROFESSOR OF THE YEAR FOR KANSAS

MANHATTAN -- Harald E.L. Prins, a Kansas State University Distinguished Professor of anthropology, has been chosen as the 2006 Kansas Professor of the Year by CASE, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.

"Harald Prins is the ninth K-State faculty member recognized as the state's top professor since CASE began the awards program in 1981," said K-State President Jon Wefald. "I am delighted Dr. Prins has won this award because he is clearly one of the top teachers and scholars at K-State."

Previous Kansas Professors of the Year from K-State include Bryan Schurle, professor of agricultural economics and a university distinguished teaching scholar, 2000; Andrew Barkley, professor of agricultural economics, 1993; Melvin Hunt, professor of meat sciences, 1992; Deborah Canter, professor of dietetics and now head of the department of hotel, restaurant, institution management and dietetics, 1991; Miles McKee, university distinguished professor emeritus of animal sciences, 1990. Richard Consigli, university distinguished professor emeritus of biology, was recognized as a silver award winner in 1985 and 1986, a designation beyond the state winner. The CASE National Professor of Year in 1996 was Dean Zollman, university distinguished professor of physics.

Born and raised in The Netherlands, Prins was trained in anthropology, archaeology and comparative history at various universities in The Netherlands and the United States. He has a doctoraal degree from the University of Nijmegen (Netherlands) and a Ph.D. from the New School for Social Research in New York City.

Also professionally trained in 16-mm filmmaking, he has co-authored and consulted on several documentary films and juried documentary film festivals. A guest curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum for Natural History, Prins has done extensive fieldwork among indigenous peoples in South and North America.

His publications include his book, "The Mi'kmaq: Resistance and Accommodation"; a co-edited volume, "American Beginnings: Exploration, Culture and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega"; four co-authored anthropology textbooks; two co-edited special journal issues; and more than 100 scholarly articles, book chapters, reviews and encyclopedia entries.

Prins also had an instrumental role in the successful federal recognition and land claims case of the Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians in 1990, and served as an expert witness in several American Indian rights cases in the U.S. Senate and Canadian courts. He is principal investigator for a National Parks Service ethnographic research project on the Maine coast. He has served as president of the Society for Visual Anthropology and visual anthropology editor of the journal, American Anthropologist.

His own work in this field includes co-production of "Our Lives in Our Hands," an internationally-screened documentary film on Micmac Indians in Maine, and an award-winning video and DVD, "Oh, What A Blow That Phantom Gave Me!" He also served as principal research adviser for another award-winning film, "Wabanaki: A New Dawn."

Prins joined K-State in 1990, was promoted to full professor in 1996 and was named a university distinguished professor in 2005. He has received many honors for his teaching. He was K-State's 2004-2005 Coffman Chair for Distinguished Teaching Scholars; received the Presidential Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching in 1999; and earned the Conoco Award for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching in 1993.

Criteria for the state Professor of the Year honor include extraordinary commitment to teaching demonstrated by excellence in the following areas: scholarly approach to teaching and learning; contributions to undergraduate education in the institution, community and profession; impact on and involvement with undergraduate students; and support from colleagues and current and former students.