RELEASED: Sept. 23, 2004

DANVILLE, KY—Stephen Rolfe Powell, Stodghill Professor of Art at Centre College, has been honored with the 2004 Acorn Award. This distinction is presented to an outstanding professor at a Kentucky college or university by the Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education. It includes a $5,000 honorarium.

Powell accepted the award at a dinner this week in Bowling Green, Ky. Centre president John Roush was also on hand at the program which featured guest speaker Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

A professor at Centre since 1983, Powell's classes are lecture/discussion sessions that focus on art history and appreciation and also feature rigorous studio sessions in which students face the fascinating challenge of producing glass art. Powell's classes are open to art majors and non-art majors. Powell, along with students and Centre graduates, has demonstrated glassblowing techniques at wide-ranging events and locations such as the 2002 Winter Olympics, New York City and New Orleans. He also brings distinguished artists to the students and community. In May, world-renowned glass artist Lino Tagliapietra held demonstrations on campus.

Beyond campus, Powell is an internationally known artist whose elaborately colored glass vessels are held in permanent collections throughout the world. He has been featured on CBS-TV's Sunday Morning and Kentucky Educational Television and in print media including American Style, Glass, Ceramics Monthly and Kentucky Monthly, which named him one of Kentucky's top 20 artists of the 20th century.

But no matter where his artwork takes him, there is one thing for Powell that stands out amongst all others: "Watching students succeed gives me more pleasure than anything I can describe," he says. "It's special for me."

"Professor Powell is very deserving of this honor," Roush says. "He has a master's knowledge of his field and enables his students to tap into that knowledge. He teaches—and epitomizes—the value of having a strong work ethic and teamwork."

A 1974 Centre graduate, Powell was named the 1999 and 2000 Kentucky Professor of the Year by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. He holds a H.W. Stodghill Jr. and Adele H. Stodghill Professorship at Centre. Powell has a B.A. in painting and ceramics from Centre and an M.F.A. from Louisiana State University.

Centre has the most Acorn winners of any private Kentucky college. Centre's Karin Ciholas, Van Winkle Professor of Language, was presented with the Acorn Award in 1999. David Newhall, Emeritus Professor of History, received the 1994 Acorn Award.

The Acorn Award was first given in 1992 by the Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of higher education in Kentucky.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top 50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

For news archives go to http://www.centre.edu/web/news/newsarchive.html.

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