Professor Robert Mutel receives Hancher-Finkbine Faculty Medallion

Sunday, May 10, 2015

Robert MutelProfessor Robert Mutel of the Department of Physics & Astronomy has been honored by the University of Iowa with the Hancher-Finkbine Faculty Medallion.

Mutel received his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Colorado in 1975 and his B.A. in physics from Cornell University in 1968.

In his 40 years of teaching at the UI, Mutel has inspired generations of students. He continues to seek out effective teaching techniques and implement them in the classroom at all levels. His hands-on teaching style encourages all students to be curious learners, work together in teams effectively, and ask questions. One of Mutel’s major contributions to student learning has been the development of student-run observing facilities at a high-altitude, dark observing site in Arizona and on Van Allen Hall.

Mutel has won a series of teaching and service awards during his time at the UI including: Collegiate Teaching Award, Award for Teaching Innovation, and recently the Philip Hubbard Award for Outstanding Education.

Mutel has also been a leader in his professional field for decades, and he pioneered long-baseline radio interferometric observations in the U.S. He has participated in many professional service activities, including advising the National Science Foundation on student-oriented research programs and serving as a referee for journal articles for the main journals in the field of astronomical and space physics.

The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences offers about 70 majors across the humanities; fine, performing and literary arts; natural and mathematical sciences; social and behavioral sciences; and communication disciplines. About 15,000 undergraduate and nearly 2,000 graduate students study each year in the college’s 37 departments, led by faculty at the forefront of teaching and research in their disciplines. The college teaches all Iowa undergraduates through the college's general education program, CLAS CORE. About 80 percent of all Iowa undergraduates begin their academic journey in CLAS. The college confers about 60 percent of the university's bachelor's degrees each academic year.