Lawrence Owen, 1972 Carlson Award Winner, English Department

The Edgar M. Carlson Award for innovative teaching was established by the Board of Trustees of Gustavus to honor the long and outstanding period of leadership Dr. Carlson has given to Gustavus Adolphus College and to do so through annual recognition of outstanding teaching on this campus.

The Edgar M. Carlson Award for innovative teaching is made possible by an annual grant of $1500 from trustee and Gustavus benefactor Arnold J. Ryden.

The award this year goes to Associate Professor Lawrence Owen of the English Department. Creative teaching as exemplified by Professor Owen cannot be ignored any more than it can be properly acclaimed by this award. Larry Owen embodies the creative spirit: he was a prime organizer and participant in our year on Creativity at Gustavus. He has long been involved in team teaching and interdisciplinary approaches to learning, as exemplified by the past winter term course “Artist and Scientist – What are they up to?” taught with Tom Gover of the Chemistry Department.

But to measure Professor Owen’s innovative and creative input at Gustavus by listing specific courses fails to recognize the nature of Larry Owen’s innovative spirit.

The students may well describe this spirit when they describe Professor Owen’s classes in such terms as happenings, encounters with values, lessons in critical thinking, and intellectual revivals. Colleagues who have taught with him or participated in discussions with him know him to be always searching for the elusive creative spark that initiates the creative work. The response of his students is evidence that Larry Owen has found that spark in his teaching. He creates in his classes an environment of exciting inquiry that transcends his classroom.

To have a colleague with such a spirit of inquiry challenges us all to higher goals in the learning experiences at Gustavus. It is an honor to present to Lawrence Owen the 1972 Edgar M. Carlson Award for Innovative Teaching.

Presented by Richard M. Fuller
Professor of Physics
1971 Recipient of Edgar M. Carlson Award