Longmore has not only helped change public perception of people with disabilities, but has also helped establish the analysis of disability as a field in academic research and teaching, much as women studies and ethnic studies were shaped in prior decades. He is the second SF State faculty member to win a Wang Award. Geoffrey Marcy, adjunct professor of physics and astronomy, won in 1999 for his key work in the discovery of more than 14 extra-solar planets.

"Great professors and leaders such as these … have a strong passion for helping students learn and providing them with the best education possible," said Stanley T. Wang, a former CSU trustee who established the awards in 1998 with a $1-million gift. "I am a strong believer that faculty are the key to a high-quality education, which is the door to success and happiness in life."

Four faculty members and one administrator in the CSU system will receive $20,000 awards and will be honored at the CSU Trustees' meeting May 16 - 17. Each campus president may nominate one faculty member from each of four discipline categories, as well as one administrator.

Longmore, who joined SF State in 1992, is an expert on disability issues and a scholar in American colonial history. He is director of the SF State Institute on Disability. He won the 2005 Henry B. Betts Award from the American Association of People with Disabilities, named in honor of the rehabilitation medicine pioneer and advocate for people with physical disabilities.

Longmore speaks out frequently against disability discrimination, depictions of disability in film and television, physician-assisted suicide, and changes in the Americans with Disabilities Act that have removed coverage for 70 percent of the disabled population.

-- Matt Itelson
Photo: Christopher J. Rozales