2008 William H. Riker University Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching: Stephen Dewhurst, PhD

Dr. David Guzick, M.D., Ph.D.

June 20, 2008

The William H. Riker University Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching is given annually to a faculty member who has excelled in graduate instruction, particularly in the University's doctoral programs. Presented at the Doctoral Commencement Ceremony each May, it is the University of Rochester's greatest recognition for excellence in graduate education. This year, the Riker Award was given to our own Stephen Dewhurst, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and Senior Associate Dean for Basic Research.

Since we are a research-focused medical school, our faculty members are not often recognized University-wide for their excellence in teaching. But we are on a run. Last year, the Riker Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, which had never before been given to a medical school faculty member, was awarded to Robert Bambara, PhD, Professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. (See June 19, 2007 for my newsletter on Dr. Bambara and also for more background on the Riker Award). And now, we are thrilled that Dr. Dewhurst has received this much-deserved honor.

Stephen Dewhurst, PhD

Can one work at the University of Rochester Medical Center and not be aware of Steve Dewhurst? He's the very tall, very lean guy who runs three miles back and forth from home to work (through all Rochester seasons), and whose preferred attire when he changes out of his running clothes is cut- offs and a t-shirt. Even more noticeable about Steve, however, is his quiet yet penetrating and thorough contributions to all matters of science at the University of Rochester. While he is best known broadly across the medical center for his research (more on this later), Steve also has a true passion for education.

Support for Steve to receive the Riker Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching was broad and deep. There were 22 individual letters of support from faculty who are familiar with his efforts in graduate teaching, across nine medical school departments and centers, and 21 letters from Steve's past and current students. These letters from faculty and students were not perfunctory, boiler plate statements; each of these 1-2 page, single-spaced letters was extraordinary in the amount of thought, detail, and personal feelings that the faculty member or student conveyed to the Selection Committee.

Before I quote some of the accolades from these letters, which emphasize the quality of Steve's teaching, let me first summarize the amazing quantity of Steve's efforts in graduate education. In his laboratory, he has supervised 20 graduate students as their PhD thesis mentor, as well as many students in master's degree programs. Of the 15 PhD students who have already graduated, virtually all have remained in science, holding both University and industry positions. He has hosted 47 students on laboratory rotations over 17 years and has served on 70 thesis committees. Steve is currently a member of 20 PhD thesis committees (not counting his own students), who are working with 15 different advisors in five different graduate programs). He has been a member of the steering committee of 7 distinct T-32 NIH training grants. Steve also serves as the current Director of an NIH T32 training grant "HIV-1 Replication and Pathogenesis", and the recent past Director of an NSF training grant "REU Site Program in Cellular and Molecular Biology", and an NIH R25 training grant "Research in Education in Microbiology and Immunology" On the issue of quantity, one faculty member summarized it this way: "Listed on his C.V., I counted ten pages of names of students whose careers were touched by Dr. Dewhurst. It is simply unbelievable."

One very special aspect of Steve's devotion to graduate education is his tireless effort recruiting and assisting underrepresented minorities in graduate science education. Indeed, he has developed a number of pipeline programs. Starting at the grade-school level, he served for many years as the Director of the Rochester Alliance Promoting Science (RAPS) mentoring program between the University of Rochester and the Rochester City School District. He also established a summer research program for high school students in collaboration with Eastman Kodak. His work as Director of the GEBS Summer Scholars Program introduced large numbers of undergraduate students to research at the UofR and has greatly aided in our recruitment of outstanding graduate students. He also secured NIH funding for the Post-Baccalaureate Research Experience Program (PREP), designed to prepare students from primarily under-represented minority institutions for graduate education in the biomedical sciences.

Now on to the quality of Steve's efforts in graduate education. Here are some representative comments from faculty members:

"What is particularly remarkable is that he contributes in a meaningful way to the development of each individual student he advises...I know of no faculty member with a greater dedication to graduate education, and I know of no faculty member who has devoted more time and energy to building a successful graduate program here."

"Steve has demonstrated an unlimited energy for the education mission for nearly two decades. He never says 'No', to a request to lecture, meet with students, run graduate programs or serve on a thesis committee."

"In a far larger context, Steve's ability to recruit students to the University of Rochester is, in my opinion, unparalleled."

"Steve helped set up visits to local colleges...and provided Power Point presentations when I visited these schools. He is kind of a whirling dervish in this regard-mention casually that you are thinking of a slide or an idea, and often within hours, a brief Power Point presentation or a detailed email appears in your inbox."

"Dr. Dewhurst has always been the most favored lecturer of the general virology course, according to student evaluations. His teaching philosophy and style have been a model for other new lecturers of the class."

"A perfect example of Dr. Dewhurst's teaching skills arose during my first year of teaching in the graduate level virology course. Although the class is listed at the graduate level, undergraduates often enroll. After observing his lecture style, I gained a true appreciation of Steve as a 'student's' teacher. He went beyond simply presenting his material and took the time to explain his topic such that was consumable for a wide range of students. It should be stated that he did not simply dumb down his lectures, but presented the salient points in a clear and concise manner, taking the time to dwell to concepts that he knew the students would have difficulty with."

And here are a few quotes from Steve's students:

"I first met Dr. Dewhurst as an undergraduate participating in GEBS Summer Scholar program. I was surprised that as the Program Director, Steve made it a point to schedule meetings with every program participant at the beginning of the program, and also towards the end of the program. The meetings included discussions of the Students Summer Research program in progress, post- graduation plans, and career goals. Dr. Dewhurst offered many insights on how to strengthen ourselves as prospective graduate applicants and future researchers."

"Dr. Dewhurst has always been there to provide me with advice and encouragement. He has helped me in my preparation process to enter into a PhD program. As a PREP trainee, he has also provided me with excellent mentorship in the principles of becoming a successful graduate student and researcher. Through his support, I have been more motivated to strive and achieve my academic and career goals."

"Steve gave me great guidance, especially at the beginning of my post-doctoral career. He introduced me to a research field that was almost entirely new to me and made the transition successful and enjoyable. Under his tutelage, I learned how to perfect my writing skills, how to work as a team member and how to network into an interdisciplinary research setting."

"The first 'gift' I received from Steve upon joining his lab as a red binder-the Dewhurst Lab Manual. It contained detailed information on methods commonly used in molecular biology, protein chemistry and tissue cultures, which was updated by Steve over the years. This Manual has served as a great reference not only for my graduate work, but also for my research career till this day...Steve's door was always open and he was always available...his mentoring role did not stop after I graduated from his lab. Along my career development, I could always count on Steve for his advice and support."

"At every meeting I have with Steve, he asks very objective, detailed and probing questions which have facilitated my growth as a scientist and investigator. Additionally, his work ethic and prolific reading of the scientific journals have fostered a great need in me to read widely and to become a better appraiser of the work and data presented and published."

"Early on in my graduate education, I thought I made a mistake, and that I wasn't very good at research. But Dr. Dewhurst never let me give up. This inspiration was not so much in what he said, but in what he did. His dedication and enthusiasm for his work was infectious."

"Almost every morning, I would arrive in the lab to find a host of journal articles on my desk related not only to our specific area of study, but also to multiple related areas as well. While creating quite a workload at the time, I find this facet of my training to be a significant advantage of my current position as a scientist with a biotech company, where being able to critically assess literature is a great asset."

"I was never aware of Steve ever telling anyone they had to work longer or harder in his lab, but I can say with confidence that his students definitely put in the arduous hours required to achieve desired research goals. At least for me, seeing Steve in his office typing away on grant proposals and to collaborators 12 hours a day, weekdays and weekends, made me push myself harder to achieve my personal goals."

"What makes Steve a great mentor and teacher is his great respect for students. I didn't really fully appreciate this attribute until working in another lab. Steve makes you feel important and valued as a member of his lab and I believe that this gives me a lot of confidence. Having your opinion regarded with respect by a person such as Steve is very motivating and, at least for me, resulted in trying to learn more and work harder to figure out roadblocks in my research."

"One of my fondest memories of Dr. Dewhurst's mentorship was when I was performing one of my biggest experiments on a Friday night. The data I was going to obtain from this experiment was crucial for an upcoming national presentation. I called Dr. Dewhurst at his home later that evening sobbing uncontrollably because my experiment did not work as planned. Dr. Dewhurst, with his infinite wisdom, calmly slowed me down and helped me to construct a new plan so that I could complete my research in a timely fashion. With great patience and guidance from Dr. Dewhurst, I was able to collect the data necessary for my presentation and was able to present these data at my national conference. I have numerous stories of Dr. Dewhurst going way beyond the call of duty and being on-call for his students 24 hours a day/7 days a week. He was never too busy for his students."

Like one of his PhD students above, during Steve's post-doc (with Jim Mullins at the Harvard School of Public Health), he thought he might not be "cut out for this." But in his matter of fact way, he relates his turn-around story as one of circumstance. Steve relates that he "got lucky. Not being a US citizen, I didn't have access to loans or credit, so this delayed my ability to jettison science. Just at that time, my project turned a corner. I switched my technical approach and used PCR to replicate a whole virus [SIV] in two pieces - when I put virus back together again it replicated. And not only did it replicate, but it was biologically active in monkeys." Knowing Steve, this was much more a matter of good goin' than good luck. As a result of these studies, Steve and his collaborators reported the first pathogenic molecular clone of an SIV virus.

Scientifically, he hasn't looked back since. Indeed, it is truly remarkable that Steve has been able to devote such extraordinary effort to graduate education while maintaining his large and successful research program on HIV vaccine development, gene transfer studies, and therapeutic approaches to neuroAIDS.

And one final interesting aspect of how Steve made his way from his home in Leicester, England--the son of a biochemist and Professor of Toxicology-to the United States. After he completed college at Bristol University in cellular pathology, he was looking for a graduate program and chose the University of Nebraska. Why Nebraska? Well, "it was a chance to go abroad, and being a big Bruce Springsteen fan, I knew Nebraska through his record album." The rest is history. Steve married Donna Jackel, whom he met while he was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University, and moved to Rochester as an Assistant Professor in 1990. Besides running, science, and graduate students, Steve and Donna are enjoying raising their two children, Hannah and Gabe, ages 10 and 12.

I close with a quotation on education by Tryon Edwards, which Dr. Dewhurst appears to have followed quite well: "If you would thoroughly know anything, teach it to others."

Meliora,

David S. Guzick, MD, PhD
Dean, School of Medicine and Dentistry
University of Rochester

Dean's Newsletter

Posted May 28, 2009:
A Fond Farewell to the University of Rochester

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