LOGAN — The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education have named Utah State University professor David Peak the 2009 Utah Professor of the Year. Peak was selected from more than 300 top professors in the United States. He was honored in a Nov. 19 ceremony in Washington, D.C.

“David Peak’s teaching genius has helped shape the education of countless undergraduates,” said USU President Stan Albrecht. “His efforts in teaching, leadership and philanthropy, both here at USU and nationally, have heightened awareness of the importance of undergraduate research.”

Peak is a professor in the Department of Physics in USU’s College of Science. USU is home to nine of the last 15 Carnegie Professors of the Year in Utah.

Peak, who joined USU in 1994, was a founder of the National Council on Undergraduate Research, which was initiated in 1978. With his wife Terry Peak, a USU associate professor of social work, Peak established an endowment in 2008 to fund outstanding undergraduate research awards at Utah State.

Past USU Carnegie Professors of the Year are: Lyle Neal, animal science; Bonnie Glass-Coffin, anthropology; Jan Sojka, physics; David Lancy, anthropology; Mark Damen, history; Sonia Manuel-Dupont, English; Ted Alsop, geography and earth resources; and Frances Titchener, history.

The U.S. Professors of the Year Award Program was created in 1981 to increase awareness of the importance of undergraduate instruction at the nation’s higher education institutions. The program recognizes faculty members for their achievement as undergraduate professors.

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National CASE press release