Academy professors receive Heiser Award

Published May 20, 2015
By Ray Bowden
U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY. Colo. -- Two Air Force Academy faculty members received a high-level academic award May 7.

Dr. Andrea Trocha-Van Nort, an English professor, and Dr. Steven Brandt, an Aeronautics professor, were selected by senior cadets to receive the award named after Professor Emeritus Dr. William H. Heiser.

Senior cadets selected Brandt and Van Nort from more than 190 eligible senior professors. Cadets voted for the instructors who contributed the most to their development, inspired them to work harder and promoted the Air Force's Core Values.

Brandt has worked at the Academy for 25 years.

"I'm very honored to receive this award," he said. "It is especially precious to me because it recognizes the association with cadets I value so highly."

Van Nort said winning the award profoundly affected her.

"As a faculty member, nothing could be more gratifying than having students present and past confirm that something you did mattered to them," she said.

The Heiser Award is the only award selected by the Academy's graduating class.

In 2010, Heiser was elected an honorary fellow for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics along with former Secretary of the Air Force Dr. Sheila Widnall.