Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Annual instructional awards banquet tonight honors the best at Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. Fourteen faculty members at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, four academic professionals and five teaching assistants will be honored for excellence in teaching and advising undergraduate students tonight at the annual Instructional Awards Banquet.

The teaching assistants, five professors and two academic professionals will receive the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, the principal award for undergraduate instruction at Illinois, at the banquet in the Illini Union, 1401 W. Green St., Urbana.

The award recognizes professors and graduate teaching assistants who display consistently excellent performance in the classroom, take innovative approaches to teaching, positively affect the lives of their students, and make other contributions to improved instruction, including influencing the curriculum.

Faculty winners of the award are Carol K. Augspurger, plant biology; Brigit P. Kelly, English; Darrel J. Kesler, animal sciences; Robert D. Reid, journalism; Douglas B. West, mathematics.

Instructional staff winners of the award are Julie P. Price, English, and Jason Zych, computer science.

Graduate teaching assistants who will receive the award are Bryan F. Ganaway, history; Yi-ping Hsu, East Asian languages and cultures; John Gardner Rogers, English; Sarah J. Schoppe, psychology; and Mahmut Yasar, agricultural and consumer economics.

Faculty members who are selected for the award receive $5,000 and a $3,000 raise; instructional staff members will receive $4,000 and a $1,500 raise; graduate teaching assistants receive $3,500 and a $1,000 increase in their stipends.

Others to be honored at the banquet:

• James A. Gentry, professor of finance; Michael C. Loui, professor of electrical and computer engineering; and Shelly J. Schmidt, professor of food science and human nutrition, will be recognized as Distinguished Teacher/Scholars.

 • Carol H. Firkins, academic adviser in the department of community health, and Keith D. Hjelmstad, professor of civil and environmental engineering, will receive the Campus Award for Excellence in Advising Undergraduate Students, which provides $2,000 to each.

• Kevin G. Waspi, lecturer in finance, will receive the Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Instruction, which provides $2,000 to the recipient.

 • John I. Marden, professor of statistics, will receive the Campus Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Instruction Using Educational Technologies, which recognizes faculty members who have introduced successful innovations into undergraduate education using educational technologies. The award provides $2,000 to the recipient.

• K. Peter Kuchinke, professor of human resource education, will receive the Campus Award for Excellence in Off-Campus Teaching. He will receive $4,000, and his department will be provided with $1,000 to improve off-campus instruction and develop programs.

• Robert M. Skirvin, professor of natural resources and environmental sciences, will receive the Campus Award for Excellence in Guiding Undergraduate Research, a $2,000 award designed to foster and reward excellence in involving and guiding undergraduate students in scholarly research.

• Michael T. Heath, professor of computer science, and Debra Richtmeyer, professor of music, will receive the Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching, which is designed to reward faculty members in professional or graduate programs who normally wouldnt have an opportunity to compete for undergraduate teaching awards. Each will receive $5,000 and a $3,000 raise.



This article was imported from a previous version of the News Bureau website. Please email news@illinois.edu to report missing photos and/or photo credits.

Read Next

Social Sciences Diptych image with book cover of "Dracula Urbanism and Smart City Mania" and headshot of David Wilson.

Illinois professor’s book explores ‘Dracula Urbanism,’ the dark side of smart city development

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — City development is increasingly associated with creating “smart cities” that use technology for managing city services, home construction and attracting resources. But those strategies come with negative consequences to a city’s poor residents, said David Wilson, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor of geography and geographic information science. Wilson is a critical […]

Campus News Honors Research News The Alma Mater statue with a dusting of snow

Three Illinois faculty named Sloan Foundation Fellows

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Three scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have received Sloan Foundation Fellowships from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Mathematics professor Benjamin Castle, physics professor Jacob Covey and microbiology professor Wei Qin are among the 126 early-career research scientists whose “creativity, innovation, and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next […]

Uncategorized Professor Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo and co-authors Melany Romero and Sudhamshi Beeram.

Postpartum depression linked with seven pain-related risk factors

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A woman’s risk of developing postpartum depression is influenced by several pain-related factors before and after childbirth, including poor pain management, their prenatal mental health and the quality of patient-provider communication, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign say. Health and kinesiology professor Sandraluz Lara-Cinisomo and her co-authors, graduate students Sudhamshi Beeram […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010