Alumni & Development
About Walter Konetzka
Professor Konetzka is remembered for his energy, charisma, and dedication to teaching. A former staff member recalls, “He inspired academic excellence. He paid attention. He could concentrate ferociously on a process, an idea, or a person. He was effortlessly creative and could confront an issue or a problem and see solutions other people didn’t see.”
During his 37-year career at Indiana University, Professor Konetzka taught approximately 11,500 students. For his efforts, he received many teaching awards, including IU’s Frederick Bachman Lieber Award for Distinguished Teaching, the Carski Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award from the American Society for Microbiology, the IUB College of Arts and Sciences-Graduate School Alumni Teaching Award, three Senior Class Teaching awards, and four Senior Class Awards for Teaching Excellence in Biology and Dedication to Undergraduates.
His dedication to teaching carried over into his role as an administrator. While Konetzka served as coordinator for undergraduate programs in biology, he developed the Core BS Biology Program, a series of challenging honors courses designed to train professional biologists. He also served on committees for the American Academy for Microbiology and the American Institute of Biology to shape curriculum for biology students nationally.
Walter Konetzka Fellowship
Thanks to donors like you, the Walter Konetzka Fellowship currently generates an estimated annual income of $6,700. With your support, this fellowship will continue to recognize a promising microbiology student and honor Walter Konetzka.
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| Andrew Houppert and Zhijing Huang receive their Konetzka Fellowships. Accepting for A. J. is his research mentor, Tuli Mukhopadhyay. (Photo: Fred Drescher) |
Andrew Houppert, 2012 Konetzka Fellow
Andrew Houppert earned a B.S. in Microbiology from our department in 2004. He spent two years as a clinical laboratory scientist at the Indiana Blood Center before returning here to earn a Ph.D. in Microbiology. Melanie Marketon is Andrew’s faculty advisor. His research focuses on characterizing chromosomal genes involved in the regulation of Type III Secretion in Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of plague. Andrew was an AI for Molecular Biology; Microbiology Laboratory for Nurses; Microbial Physiology and Biochemistry Lecture; Introduction to Microbiology Laboratory; and Medical Microbiology Laboratory. He was also a Microbiology Instructor for the Jim Holland Summer Enrichment Program. Andrew has co-authored articles that have appeared in PloS One; Molecular Microbiology; and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Zhijing Huang, 2012 Konetzka Fellow
Zhijing Huang is earning her Ph. D. in Microbiology. A member of Rich Hardy’s lab, her research focuses on the arthropod immune response to virus replication. Zhijing has been an Associate Instructor for Biological Mechanisms and for the Biotechnology Laboratory. She earned her B.S. in Biological Sciences in 2008 at China’s Fudan University.
Anthony J. Snyder, 2012 Konetzka Fellow
Anthony J. Snyder is earning his Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry. His research in Tuli Mukhopadhyay’s lab focuses on structure-function studies of the alphavirus E3 glycoprotein. A.J. has been an Associate Instructor for our Introductory Biology Laboratory. He earned his B.S. in Biochemistry, with Highest Distinction, from Purdue University in 2008. A.J. has coauthored papers that appeared in Journal of Virology and Cancer. In June, he attended the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology’s Virus Structure and Assembly conference where he presented a paper.
About the Konetzka Fellowship
The Konetzka Fellowship is open to Department of Biology graduate students in good academic standing. First preference is given to graduate students in microbiology with superb teaching abilities and strong research skills. Second preference is given to graduate students majoring in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology or Genetics if their research is in the area of microbiology and they have the requisite teaching skills.
This endowed fellowship was established by family, friends, colleagues, and former students to honor a beloved researcher, administrator, and teacher.