One professor’s teaching methods have gained accolades from colleagues and students alike.

Another’s research has pioneered new ways to interact with medical patients that have made them happier and healthier.

Val Stella, university distinguished professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, and Carol E. Smith, professor of nursing, both won awards from the Kansas University Endowment Chancellors Club.

They are scheduled to be recognized – Stella for his teaching and Smith for her research – at a ceremony Friday. Both will receive a $6,000 award.

Twinkle in their eyes

Stella said he often tries to relate to his students through humor, which comes through immediately upon having even a brief conversation with him.

He joked that since he’s a member of the Chancellors Club, he told a colleague that this award simply represented a return on his investment.

But underneath the humor, he’s got a real talent for relating to a classroom, said Kenneth Audus, dean of the KU School of Pharmacy, himself of a former student of Stella’s.

Audus said many teachers in the department, including himself, look to Stella for teaching tips.

In many ways, it’s hard to pin down what Stella does so well, Audus said. He referenced a look that all professors aim for – a certain twinkle in a student’s eye that says “I get it.”

“Val is one of the guys that was always able to detect that and build on that,” Audus said.

And if you can get past Stella’s layer of self-effacing jokes about his award, you’ll get to his real feelings. He said he aims to be a teacher outside the classroom, creating not only good students of his craft but also good citizens.

“I’m extremely humbled by this honor,” Stella said. “Because there’s so many good people at KU.”

‘That’s what nurses do’

In the School of Nursing, Smith is known for her innovative ideas and willingness to maintain focus on an area of research until it receives funding, said Cynthia Teel, associate dean of graduate programs for the school.

Smith said she’s proud of her research because she helps put into practice theories of improving care.

“They really don’t become effective until someone guides the patients to use them every day,” she said. “That’s what nurses do.”

And she said she was proud to receive recognition on behalf of her team of researchers.

“It’s a very wonderful acknowledgment that the kind of research that we do has a lot of value,” she said.

Smith’s research has resulted in fewer infections, less depression and fewer rehospitalizations in her patients. She has pioneered innovations like a peer program for patients and a remote camera that allows nurses to explain procedures like inserting a catheter to a caregiver at home, among others.

Teel said Smith is always quick to teach young faculty members about the process for obtaining funding, and is always quick to celebrate the team’s successes.

She recalled one instance when she saw Smith carrying a bouquet of long-stemmed roses through the hallway. When Teel asked what they were for, Smith told her that she would be celebrating the receipt of grant funding by giving a rose to each member of her team while publicly thanking them for their contributions.

“She has made contributions at all levels of teaching and mentoring faculty and students,” Teel said.