Absolute threshold is the smallest level of stimulus that can be detected.

“It’s a concept of perception that deals with how much intensity do you need in a stimulus to detect it,” said Beckwith, of Manson. “How bright does a light have to be to detect it?”

The demonstration uses lights of different intensities and students must identify whether or not they see it.

Later, the experiment reveals to students that in many instances a light was there, they just couldn’t see it.

The experiment is just one example of how Beckwith tries to connect concepts with his students.

“The most important thing with teaching is finding a way and creating a structure to get a way for students to think about the content and the meaning of the content as well as connecting it to their own lives,” Beckwith said. “How you do that depends on the situation and the content. The overall goal is to get them to think about the content and connect it to their lives.”

For his efforts, Beckwith was recently named the 35th recipient of the George Wythe Award, BVU’s highest honor for excellence in teaching, during the University’s Employee Recognition Celebration in Schaller Memorial Chapel on May 14. The award is named for George Wythe, the educator whose students included Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, James Monroe and Henry Clay.

Beckwith found out he was a finalist for the award in February. He learned that he won the award in early May.

The George Wythe Award, endowed through a gift from the late BVU Life Trustees Paul and Vivian McCorkle, BVU Class of 1959, includes a $30,000 stipend and a sabbatical through which Wythe laureates may pursue professional development and research.

Beckwith said he would like to join a lab research effort on electroencephalography (EEG) brain imaging in his effort to bring the technique back to BVU students for their use.

He’s honored to receive the award.

“To receive the George Wythe award is an amazing honor and I feel extremely grateful to the McCorkle family for creating this award,” Beckwith said. “In addition to that gratitude, I feel very honored that the responsibility is on me to continue to improve and continue to ensure that what I’m able to give to students is always getting better.”

Beckwith graduated in 2006 from Weld Central High School in Keenesburg, Colorado.

He graduated in 2010 from Coe College in Cedar Rapids with a double major in psychology and neuroscience.

Following his graduation from Coe College, Beckwith earned his master’s degree and Ph.D. in psychology from the addiction neuroscience program at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. He defended his dissertation in the summer of 2017 and within one week was on his way to Storm Lake to begin his teaching career.

Beckwith said he didn’t know what he wanted to do for a career until he got to college. It was at Coe College that an introduction to psychology course piqued his interest.

“When I was graduating high school and going to college I had no idea,” he said. “In many ways I was a very green hayseed. I grew up in northeastern Colorado in a town of about 500 people. When I got to college I had some really amazing experiences with a lot of different mentors and expanded my world. It changed my life immensely. And that’s where my inspiration and passion comes from is I want to give them (students) the same life changing experiences.”

Beckwith and his wife, Kristi Beckwith, moved to Manson in 2017. Kristi Beckwith works at Elanco in Fort Dodge.

He’s enjoyed living in Manson.

“Manson has been an amazing place to call home,” Wesley Beckwith said. “Our neighbors are absolutely amazing. There’s a lot of community spirit in Manson. We wanted a good place to raise our kids and we both come from a rural background. Manson felt like home.”

Wesley Beckwith began teaching at BVU in the fall of 2017. He teaches psychology 100, experimental design and statistical analysis, brain and behavior, drugs and behavior, cognition, learning and memory and university seminar.

The day-to-day interactions with students is something he finds particularly rewarding.

“A lot of it is the interaction with students and getting them engaged in thinking about concepts,” he said. “I feed off their energy in a lot of ways.”

He notices and respects students who work hard in the face of life’s most difficult challenges.

“The students that often I’m the proudest of are the students that have to overcome a lot,” Beckwith said. “Sometimes they struggle but continue to persevere and reach their goals in spite of mass obstacles in their way.

“There was one student I worked with who was diagnosed with cancer during the semester. That individual making it through and to see them walk across the stage at graduation when I knew everything they had to overcome fills me with pride. Those are the best moments.”

It’s Beckwith’s mission to continually improve as an educator while helping his students reach for new heights.

“Helping them grow and achieve their goals,” he said. “It comes back to the experiences I had once upon a time as an undergraduate. I want to give back and pay it forward.”