Wednesday, April 10, 2013 | 4:55 p.m. CDT; updated 10:53 p.m. CDT, Wednesday, April 10, 2013

COLUMBIA AngelaSpeck felt sheer terror whenMU administrators, professors and staff entered her classroom to award her the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence.

She knew she was going to blush.

"It doesnt go with the outfit or the hair, said Speck, whosehair is black with purple and green streaks.

Speck, a professor in the MU Department of Physics and Astronomy, received the fifth and final 2013 Kemper Fellowship on Wednesday morning. She joined associate professor of toxicology Tim Evans, who won the first award, and three other professors who also won awards.

MU Deputy Chancellor Mike Middleton made the announcement to eight students in Specks Introduction to Modern Astrophysics course before Commerce Bank Chairman Jim Schatz presented her with a check for $10,000.

The Kemper Fellowship program was established in 1991. It was named for William T. Kemper, a 1926 graduate of MU. Commerce Bank controls a trust that provides $10,000 awards to five outstanding MU professors each year.

In his presentation of the award, Middleton recalled a conversation he had with Speck when they both traveled to South Africa.

"She said she wanted to be an astronomer since she was a little girl," Middleton said. "Her passion for the field is obvious."

Twenty minutes later, Speck was back to teaching her class, which focused on techniques for measuring distance in space.

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MU astronomy professor Angela Speck receives Kemper Fellowship award