Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, April 2, 1993 TAG: 9304020420
SECTION: FOUNDERS DAY PAGE: FD-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
NORTON RECEIVES WINE AWARD
Marjorie J.T. Norton is a natural teacher who can impart ideas and inspire new ones. Even as head of her department, Norton continues her daily contact with students both as a teacher and as an adviser.When first meeting Norton with her quiet demeanor, one might not realize the impact she has had on her students and their studies in the Department of Clothing and Textiles. She has developed three courses and taught 10 since coming to Virginia Tech in 1980. Many of these combine her two fields of expertise: clothing and textiles and applied economics.
The term project she developed for economics of the textile and apparel industry is used by others who teach the course and has been used as a model by her colleagues at Cornell and other universities. In this project, stuTdents select a firm and analyze it in terms of its operation, the forces in the economy acting upon it and its competitors and partners. In other courses, she has applied consumer economics theory to clothing and textiles and related research so that students can understand the factors affecting consumer behavior.
She also teaches the required graduate course, Orientation to Research. Her refinements to the assignments in the course have helped students develop their thought processes and distill the focus of their research proposals. When asked by one student if reading all those proposals didn't become tiring after awhile, she responded, "Yes, but it is also exhilarating to see new ideas develop."
She has respect for her students and enjoys a good rapport with them. She received the University's Certificate of Teaching Excellence in 1988, and her students continually give her high teaching evaluation scores.
"She helped us move from being consumers of knowledge to producers of knowledge. She has shown us how to learn, not just what to learn," explains one student. "I have received an education, not just a degree as a result of my association with Dr. Norton. And, I am deeply grateful," adds another.
Norton, an associate professor, also has daily contact with students as their adviser. Each fall she is the first-semester adviser to all new undergraduate clothing and textiles students and is the regular adviser to an additional 30 undergraduates each year. She has chaired over 18 graduate advising committees and been a member of 26, as well as chairing six of the 23 Ph.D. qualifying exam committees on which she has served. She then adds to those activities her continuing research and community outreach efforts.