Armitstead Receives Distinguished Teaching Award

by Alan Hunt

Dr. Paul T. Armitstead, a history professor at Baylor University for the past 35 years, received the Robert L. Reid Award for Distinguished Teaching during the Baylor College of Arts and Sciences faculty meeting on Tuesday, April 9.
The coveted honor is named for Distinguished Professor Emeritus and Master Teacher Robert L. Reid, who retired last year after a 45-year Baylor teaching career. The award recognizes outstanding contributions in instruction in the humanities.
Armitstead was cited by the selection committee for his outstanding teaching achievements and for the numerous contributions he has made during his years at Baylor, including his "sound, sensitive support" of students and faculty members and his "strong academic standing."
The Rochester, N.H., native, who joined the Baylor faculty in 1961, has served as a professor and is a former chairman of the Department of History. Armitstead received a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Nebraska and a master of arts degree and a doctorate from the University of Texas.
He received the award from Dr. William F. Cooper, who presided over his last faculty meeting as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, a position he has held since 1987. Cooper, who joined the Baylor faculty in 1965, will retire as dean and will return in January next year to teach in the Department of Philosophy.
Tributes to Cooper's service were paid at the meeting by a number of speakers, including Baylor President Robert B. Sloan Jr., Chancellor Herbert H. Reynolds, provost and vice president for academic affairs, Dr. Donald D. Schmeltekopf, professor and chair of philosophy and Master Teacher, Dr. Robert M. Baird, and Dr. Timothy S. Johnson and Dr. R. Alden Smith, both assistant professors of classics.
Cooper earned bachelor of arts and master of arts degrees in philosophy from Baylor. He also holds the bachelor of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and the doctorate of philosophy degree from Indiana University. He conducted research in Argentina in 1962-63 as the recipient of a Fulbright Grant. From 1979-87, he served as dean of Continuing Education and Faculty Development.
Under Cooper's leadership, the College of Arts and Sciences has grown to include 24 departments, approximately 6,000 students, and more than 500 full- and part-time faculty and staff.