Dean Keith Simonton, a University of California, Davis, psychology professor known as an outstanding teacher and an internationally recognized authority on the psychological ingredients of leadership and creativity, has been awarded the 1994 UC Davis Prize for Teaching and Scholarly Achievement. Considered to be the largest annual award of its kind in the country, the $25,000 prize -- established by the UC Davis Foundation through gifts of the Davis Chancellor's Club Fellows -- pays tribute to faculty members on campus who demonstrate skillful undergraduate teaching and remarkable scholarly accomplishments. "This prize permits the UC Davis Foundation to recognize and to encourage an ideal blend of scholarship and outstanding undergraduate teaching among the campus's faculty," said James A. Willett, chair of the foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports UC Davis. "Simonton is an exceptionally gifted and committed teacher, an outstanding scholar and a major contributor to campus life," said Robert Crummey, dean of the College of Letters and Science. "He is heavily involved in instruction at all levels, and is known for the great talent, energy, and creativity that he applies to teaching, advising and curriculum development." "Dean Simonton is a distinguished and prolific scholar whose internationally known research continually shapes his teaching," said Chancellor Larry N. Vanderhoef. "And as chair of the campus's Committee on Academic Personnel, Dean effectively encourages the committee to specially recognize our faculty who devote creative effort to curriculum design and innovative teaching." One of the most popular professors on campus, Simonton is praised by students for his enthusiasm, energy and sense of humor. Many students have said that his courses are the best they have taken. At the undergraduate level he teaches courses that range from an introductory psychology class to a very popular course titled "Genius, Creativity, and Leadership." At the graduate level he teaches an advanced statistics course that regularly attracts dozens of students from various academic disciplines. "As a former peer adviser for the psychology department as well as a student and research assistant for Professor Simonton, I know firsthand that he is highly admired and respected among his students and there is always a long waiting list for any of the interesting and challenging courses he teaches," said Cory M. Fitzpatrick. "Simonton's competence, energy and accessibility to all combine to make being a student in one of his classes a unique and energizing experience," said Kevin Greene, a senior majoring in biochemistry. "On the many occasions that I would stop by and visit with him in his office he always provided me with insight. I also looked forward to his lectures because he was always organized, clear, enthusiastic and was able to accommodate students' questions into the class discussion -- traits that make Simonton one of the most outstanding teachers I know." Perhaps the most moving tribute came from Gonzalo Calderon, a Latino student who, at a Chicano/Latino commencement celebration, described Simonton as the most important influence in his life. He brought the professor on stage with him, an honor normally reserved for the members of the graduate's immediate family. Simonton's commitment to integrate his research into his teaching takes many forms. He guides the research projects of a number of students and encourages them to publish their work as well as invites students to join him on his research projects. Most of his undergraduate seminars and his upper-division courses deal directly with his research expertise -- the conditions that produce leaders and creators of recognized genius. His graduate course introduces students to the primary methodology that underlies Simonton's work. As an editor of the leading publication in his field, Journal of Creative Behavior, Simonton is able to keep his students up-to-date on the latest research. Simonton has published more than 100 articles and five books, such as "Why Presidents Succeed: A Political Psychology of Leadership" (1987), on various aspects of history-making personalities and events. His most recent book, to be released mid -May, is titled "Greatness: Who Makes History and Why." It discusses whether people who make history are somehow different and whether specific personality traits and family backgrounds predispose certain people to become world leaders, movie stars, scientific geniuses and athletes. Simonton's academic record includes several new contributions to the design and the recognition of undergraduate education at UC Davis. As the chair of the Committee on Academic Personnel, Simonton has played a central role in making the personnel review process more flexible and responsive to excellence in areas such as teaching, according to Crummey. In addition, Simonton has been influential in designing the campus's Teaching Excellence and Merit (TEAM) program, created to encourage senior faculty members to be innovative in curriculum design and undergraduate teaching. "As chair of the Committee on Academic Personnel, Simonton exemplified the balance that faculty must display between teaching, research and service," said Carol Tomlinson-Keasey, vice provost of faculty relations at UC Davis. "A distinctive characteristic of the service responsibilities he has assumed during his career is that almost all were dedicated to improving the quality of research and teaching on the Davis campus." "Simonton is not the kind of professor who teaches the same courses over and over in the same way," said Phillip R. Shaver, psychology department chair. "He constantly revises and reorganizes all of his courses, hoping to find a way to increase the intellectual demands on his students without sacrificing the course's appeal. He has repeatedly shown that one can make a course more rigorous and at the same time more popular." "It's important for me to make students feel comfortable in class and be cognizant of the pressures that today's student feels," said Simonton. "University professors often forget what it is like to be a student and we as a collective body of educators need to be more empathetic." Outside of his department responsibilities and administrative assignments, Simonton often participates in summer advising (student assistance and orientation programs for entering students) as both lecturer and adviser. He frequently delivers guest lectures for classes outside the psychology major, including freshmen seminar courses and "mini lectures" at Picnic Day, the annual open house at UC Davis. Simonton graduated from Occidental College in 1970 with a bachelor's degree in psychology and received his master's and doctoral degrees from Harvard University in 1973 and 1975, respectively. After serving two years as an assistant professor at the University of Arkansas, he came to UC Davis in 1976. Simonton lives in Davis with his wife, Melody, and daughters, Mandy and Sabrina. The UC Davis Prize for Teaching and Scholarly Achievement was established in 1987 through a gift from an alumnus who asked to remain unnamed. Nominations for the prize are made by deans of UC Davis colleges and schools offering undergraduate education. The committee that made the final selection was composed of representatives from the UC Davis Foundation, the Davis Division of the UC Academic Senate, the Associated Students of UC Davis and Chancellor Vanderhoef.