From the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy:

Pope Center ?Spirit of Inquiry? Award Honors Faculty at Wake Forest, Duke, ECU

RALEIGH, October 23, 2009 ?The John W. Pope Center announced its Spirit of Inquiry Award winners last night at a dinner at the Umstead Hotel in Cary. The contest rewards North Carolina faculty who teach academically rigorous courses that exemplify the ?spirit of inquiry? and intellectual exploration.

Brandon Turner, a visiting professor in political science at Wake Forest last year, who joined the faculty of Clemson University this fall, received the first prize for his course ?American Political Thought.? Jared Fuller, a Wake Forest junior majoring in political science, nominated Turner.

Peter Feaver, Alexander F. Hehmeyer Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at Duke, received the second-place prize for ?American Grand Strategy after 9/11.? John Bailey, a 2009 Duke graduate, nominated Feaver.          

John Stevens and John Given, associate professors of classical studies at East Carolina University who jointly teach ?Ancient Philosophical Literature in Classical Studies,? were third-place winners. Ashton Pace, a 2009 graduate, and James Duffy, a junior in classical studies, nominated Stevens and Given.

First-place winners received $1000; second-place winners, $750; and third-place winners, $500. Students who nominated the winners received student-bookstore gift cards of $250.

The award recipients were selected by a panel of distinguished judges: Anne Neal, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni; John Allison, former BB&T Chairman and CEO now teaches at Wake Forest University School of Business as a Distinguished Professor of Practice; Edgar Broyhill, president and managing director of the Broyhill Group in Winston-Salem; James Martin, former North Carolina governor; and George Leef, director of research at the Pope Center.

This is the second year of the Pope Center contest. Its goal is to recognize rigorous, rewarding university courses that expand students? knowledge and encouraging them to think deeply and broadly within the scope of an academic discipline. Fifty-six students from eight schools in the state nominated courses for the award.

 You might remember last year‘s first Spirit of Inquiry awards.