From CU-Boulder News Release May 13, 1994
David Prescott Named Hazel Barnes Prize Winner
David Prescott, a distinguished professor in the molecular, cellular and developmental biology department at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been named 1994 winner of the Hazel Barnes Prize.
Established in 1991 by Chancellor James Corbridge, the prestigious prize was created as a means of recognizing “the enriching interrelationship between teaching and research” and is awarded annually to outstanding teachers who also have made significant contributions through their research. The prize carries a $20,000 cash award, the largest single faculty award funded by the university.
Past winners include chemical engineering Professor Klaus Timmerhaus (1992) and English Professor Reginald Saner (1993). The prize is named for emeritus philosophy Professor Hazel Barnes, considered one of the finest teachers in the history of the university and a widely published scholar on the work of Paul Sartre.
An internationally recognized expert in cell biology and cancer research, Prescott was named a University of Colorado President’s Teaching Scholar in 1993 and a Distinguished Professor at CU-Boulder in 1980.
Well known for his outstanding teaching abilities, Prescott is one of only two CU-Boulder professors since 1976 to receive the Teacher Recognition Award twice — in 1981 and again in 1992. The award is considered especially meaningful because winners are nominated, evaluated and presented with the award by students through the Student Organization for Alumni Relations.
Prescott has authored more than 200 publications, including several books, and has served as the editor of several international research journals, including Cell and the Journal of Cell Biology. He is a member of both the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
A past president of the American Society of Cell Biology, Prescott was chair of the anatomy department at the University of Colorado Medical School from 1963 to 1966. He chaired CU-Boulder’s molecular biology department in 1974 and 1975 and served as an American Cancer Society Scholar and a Guggenheim Fellow in 1990 and 1991.
One of the most popular courses Prescott teaches, titled “Biology of the Cancer Cell,” is the only upper division, undergraduate molecular biology course open to non-majors. Structured to appeal to students with diverse interests, the course is taken by more than 150 undergraduates each spring.