I just heard the news that Mike Wesch, an untenured assistant professor at Kansas State University, was chosen as National Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation (CASE). It soon will be announced in an official ceremony in Washington DC.

Congratulations to Mike as well as Marty and Harald. :)

Date: Sat, 15 Nov 2008 07:19:51 -0600
From: Mike Wesch
Subject: Mike Wesch is 2008 National Prof of the Year

Winning this has been a bit surreal and has inspired quite a bit of reflection on what led up to it. When I walked into Marty Ottenheimer’s class in Fall 1995 I had no idea what anthropology was. As you know, Marty speaks smoothly and almost serenely, even while lobbing out intellectual fire bombs that blow minds. My mind was blown. He had me asking questions I had never asked before. Soon after that I was TAing for Harald. I remember him describing teaching the Intro class as akin to an act of shamanism. It is not just about teaching a bunch of facts, but guiding students through a transformative initiation. That imagery has guided my approach to teaching ever since. I have no doubt that it was the extraordinary attention our program places on undergraduate excellence that propelled me to this point in my career. I feel blessed to have stumbled into KSU Anthropology in 1995, and even more blessed to be a part of it today.

~ Mike

If you deal with the safety (security) of social networks, you definitely should watch Mike’s presentation at the Library of Congress, June 23rd 2008: