Devotion to service earns professor award

By Erin Brodbeck
Collegian Editor
August 30, 2006

The Class of 2010 and transfer students, along with their family and friends, gathered at the Hayman Center for Opening Convocation and the presentation of the University’s Faculty Distinguished Service Award on Aug. 24. This year, the award went to Dr. Robert Vogel of the Education Department.

Provost Dr. Richard Nigro introduced the award, explaining that the honor is designed to recognize a faculty member who demonstrates “exceptional involvement and devotion to the good of the University, the advancement of its mission and support of La Salle as a learning community.”

Vogel has been with La Salle University for over 30 years, and recently co-founded the Leadership and Global Understanding (LGU) Program. In addition to serving the La Salle community as a professor, Vogel has also worked with organizations at secondary schools in the Philadelphia area. Vogel’s commitment to his two passions-teaching and servicehas lead him to inspire students and colleagues alike.

A fellow professor in the Department of Education and past winner of the Faculty Distinguished Service Award, Dr. Preston Feden, said that Vogel, “richly deserved the Provost’s Distinguished Service Award because he turned his passion for travel, for teaching, indeed for life itself, into programs and experiences for students that are, in short, transformative.”

By developing the LGU program, Vogel has combined his love for teaching young people with his interest in global issues. Vogel said the LGU minor “encourages civic engagement, service learning and travel study through a problem-based learning approach.”

While accepting his award, Vogel urged freshmen to find their passion and pursue it, to “never settle for less.”This advice came from Vogel’s father, who encouraged Vogel as a college student to make each day meaningful by choosing a career he felt strongly about.

Also during his speech, Vogel recalled three former students, each unique in his or her experience at La Salle, and praised them for balancing a career they love with a desire to give back to the community. Wrapping up his speech, Vogel said, “It is good to have an end to journey towards, but it is the journey that matters in the end.”

Vogel’s journey has been filled with dedication to his students, his school and his community. Later on, of his responsibilities as a professor, Vogel said, “As a teacher, we have the responsibility to not only motivate our students but to help them construct their own knowledge. This can only take place when you integrate content knowledge with field experiences, mentoring and tutoring opportunities and travel study experiences, as examples. Helping students see the connections between what they are learning and the world in which they live is critical.”

brodbecke1@lasalle.edu