Vol. 24, No. 7	Oct. 23, 1998

Kathy Eden and Fletcher Griffis Are Honored as Great Teachers by Society of Columbia Graduates

The Society of Columbia Graduates has named professors Fletcher H. Griffis of the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science and Kathy Eden of Columbia College the 1998 winners of its Great Teacher Award.

The award was presented to the winners at the Society's annual dinner in Faculty House on Oct. 14.

Eden, who graduated from Smith College in 1974, joined the Columbia faculty as a member of the English and comparative literature department in 1980, the same year she received her Ph.D. in comparative literature from Stanford. A scholar of the Renaissance, Eden is known to set high yet fair standards for her students. "Stellar" is a frequently used adjective by those describing her classes.

A 1960 graduate of West Point who in 1971 earned a Ph.D. in construction engineering from Oklahoma State, Griffis began his association with Columbia as an adjunct professor of civil engineering in 1982. He became a professor in 1986 after 26 years in the Army, many of those years in the Corps of Engineers as Commander and District Engineer for New York. At Columbia, Griffis heads the Construction Engineering and Management Program and teaches transportation engineering, civil engineering planning and construction engineering. Of Griffis his students say he is "very accessible . . . and a great guy."

The Great Teacher Award was established by The Society of Columbia Graduates in 1950. Each year it bestows two awards on Columbia professors, one each in the Engineering School and in the College.