Distinguished Faculty for Research/Artistic Accomplishment Award 2019-2020 Dr. Lixing Sun
Dr. Lixing Sun has been awarded the Distinguished Faculty of Scholarship/Artistic Accomplishment award in recognition of his 24 years of service at CWU. In addition to his achievements as a Professor of Biology in the Department of Biological Sciences, Dr. Sun is an internationally recognized leader in his field who has published 42 peer-reviewed articles, written three books, and delivered an astonishing 52 papers at conferences around the world. Since his arrival at CWU in 1996, Dr. Sun has pursued an interdisciplinary approach to research that has wedded biology to various other fields, ranging from anthropology and economics to sociology and psychology. The result has been important scholarly works such as The Fairness Instinct: The Robin Hood Mentality and Our Biological Nature and his forthcoming project, Liars of Nature and the Nature of Liars: The Evolution of Cheating in the Biological World . As one of his colleagues has noted, “Dr. Sun possesses an intense curiosity about the natural world, and he routinely disseminates his outstanding work across the scientific spectrum.” It has also led him to present his research findings at a host of international conferences, such as those sponsored by the Max Planck Institute of Anthropology in Leipzig and the Chinese Academy of the Sciences in Beijing. Dr. Sun’s exemplary work as a research scientist is matched by his commitment to teaching in the classroom. As Dr. Sun has stated, “Research … serves as a conduit for students to develop knowledge, build skills, and foster a passion for intellectual engagement.” This philosophy is evident when reviewing his tenure at CWU, where he has taught 18 undergraduate and graduate courses in the Biological Sciences department. While some of his undergraduate-level classes introduce students to Animal Biology, Quantitative Methods, and Fundamental Biology, his graduate-level courses delve into Research Methodology and Techniques, Primatology, and Animal Behavior. Students who take his classes find that, “while Dr. Sun is a supportive and caring professor, he also pushes his students to strive for something better. This could be encouraging us to try to publish our findings regardless of the result or just inspiring us to keep asking questions and finding new areas of interest.” Dr. Sun’s commitment to advancing the quality of CWU’s programs is also noteworthy. From 2003-2004 he served as Interim Associate Dean of the College of the Sciences (COTS), during which time he co- founded the Environmental Studies Program and the Primate Behavior and Ecology Program; he also served as director of the latter program from 2003-2006. In the words of one colleague, “Dr. Sun aims high and works hard to accomplish his goals…” Equally important, he serves as a tireless mentor for his graduate students, guiding them along the path to becoming professional scientists in their own right and enabling them to pass along the scientific expertise they learned from him to a new generation of students. CWU is fortunate to have in its midst a world-class research scientist whose devotion to scholarship and his students is so pronounced. It is therefore only fitting that Dr. Lixing Sun should now receive the Distinguished Faculty of Scholarship/Artistic Accomplishment Award in recognition of his many years of commitment to CWU and academic excellence.
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