Friehauf Receives 2021 Arthur and Isabel Wiesenberger Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching

Friehauf presented award.

(L to R): Mary Neuenschwander, director of alumni relations, Dr. Kurt Friehauf, professor of physical sciences, Dr. Kenneth S. Hawkinson, university president, Alex Ogeka, executive director of Kutztown University Foundation.

KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Dr. Kurt Friehauf, professor of physical sciences, has been awarded the 2021 Arthur and Isabel Wiesenberger Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. The award, given annually, is presented to a faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding teaching skills and service to Kutztown University. The award was announced as part of KU's Faculty and Staff Convocation and Celebration Friday, Aug. 27.

Friehauf is a licensed professional geologist, a professor of mineral resource geology and geochemistry and is the chair of the Kutztown University Undergraduate Research Committee. He also manages the Fred and Martha Hafer Scanning Electron Microscope Lab at Kutztown University, maintaining the instrument and training student and faculty users. In addition to introductory-level courses on the geology of America's national parks, he has taught advanced courses in economic geology, mineralogy, igneous and metamorphic petrology, hydrogeology, environmental geology and geophysics. He taught graduate geology courses for 10 summers at the China University of Geosciences in Beijing, China.

Friehauf involves KU students in his cutting-edge research on how ore deposits form, traveling with his students on field expeditions to China, Inner Mongolia, Namibia and Alaska. He also accompanies his research students to national scientific conferences in the U.S. and Canada, where his students present their published work to professional researchers from all around the world. As the advisor to the Geology Club, Friehauf travels with KU students to explore geologic wonders in Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and many western states in the U.S. and helps organize educational outreach programs for young children in the area. Friehauf is dedicated to making a difference not only in the lives of college students, but also those of young people in the broader community. He served as an elected school board director of the Kutztown Area School District and as a local Cub Scout den leader.

Friehauf currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Pennsylvania Council of Professional Geologists. He is a fellow of the Society of Economic Geologists, a member of the Geological Society of America and was an associate editor of the Journal of Geoscience Education. He earned a bachelor's degree in geology at Colorado State University and a doctorate in geological and environmental sciences from Stanford University.