CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign each year presents Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction to exceptional faculty and staff members, graduate teaching assistants and advisors campuswide. This year’s recipients are being honored at a ceremony.
Awardees are cited for sustained excellence and innovation in undergraduate and graduate teaching, undergraduate and graduate advising and mentoring, online teaching and research guidance. The Office of the Provost sponsors the awards.
Matthew B. Wheeler, a professor of animal sciences, and Qian Chen, a professor of materials science and engineering, are recipients of the Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring, presented to tenure-system or specialized faculty members at Illinois who have taught on the Urbana-Champaign campus for at least five years. According to their nominators:
Wheeler adopts a hands-on approach to graduate teaching and mentoring. The graduate-level course he taught for many years on advanced animal reproductive physiology allowed students to experience outside the classroom what they learned in lectures. Wheeler is a quintessential professor for a land-grant university, training the next generation of scientists while seamlessly connecting his research program with teaching and outreach activities. He has sustained dedication and enthusiasm for graduate education in reproductive biology throughout his career.
Chen is an accomplished professor and an outstanding student mentor, reflected by an impressive number of major awards won by Chen’s graduate students. She is credited with guiding an academically strong group of students into exceptional scientists and engineers. She makes transformational impacts in the success of students across a range of backgrounds and starting points.
The Campus Award for Excellence in Guiding Undergraduate Research is designed to foster and reward excellence in involving and guiding undergraduate students in scholarly research. Honorees, as described by their nominators, are:
Katy Heath, a professor of plant biology, gives her undergraduate researchers the freedom to explore their projects and take risks. Her efforts have translated into multiple opportunities for her students, including advancing on to doctoral degree programs, careers in industry, roles as technicians in academic laboratories and other opportunities. The diversity of career paths demonstrates how she embraces a variety of mentoring styles that best suit students’ goals, their experience and independence.
Mohammed El-Kebir, a professor of computer science, uses a creative approach to involve undergraduates in consequential and publishable research. He engages undergraduates in his graduate-level courses and identifies other opportunities for them, including summer research opportunities, and coordinates with institutions such as the National Institutes of Health. El-Kebir has also taken on several activities to increase diversity, equity and inclusion in computer science.
The Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising recognizes advisors’ impact on undergraduate students and their intellectual development through academic advising relationships. Honorees and their contributions as described by their nominators:
Maddie Darling, associate director of undergraduate programs, bioengineering, adapted portions of a course she previously taught that guides students through activities to achieve a greater sense of personal responsibility, increase self-motivation, master effective time-management strategies and study skills, revise self-defeating patterns, identify learning styles and establish short-term and long-term academic goals.
Daniel Shoemaker, a professor of materials science and engineering, is recognized as an exceptional advisor to students in his department. He has developed mentoring relationships with students in his classes and those working with him on undergraduate research projects. He earned a coveted faculty award presented by a student honor society to a faculty member who made a particularly memorable impression.
The Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching recognizes contributions to graduate or professional learners beyond classroom instruction. Tenure-system faculty and specialized faculty are eligible. Awardees and their contributions include:
Luke Olson, a professor of computer science, contributes to his department through leadership in graduate course curriculum development within the scientific computing research area and as an instructor. Olson has taken the lead in syllabus development for the department’s core numerical analysis courses. Both courses are frequently taken by graduate students from engineering, physics and mathematics. He develops novel curricula with a focus on inclusiveness and helping students achieve their desired objectives.
Brian Hamm, a professor of accountancy, combines technical concepts with real-life applications, drawing from his extensive industry experience to provide students with a comprehensive and pragmatic understanding of finance and accounting. Hamm encourages students to use Artificial Intelligence I tools like ChatGPT to enhance their learning experience and prepare for the rapidly evolving technological landscape in business. He incorporates current events, such as inflation, global conflict and supply chain disruptions to ensure graduate students are positioned to address emerging issues in the business world.
Susan Dramin Weiss, an instructor of speech and human science and Sharon S. Lee, a professor of education policy, organization and leadership, are the recipients of the Campus Award in Online Teaching, an award that recognizes contributions to student learning through innovative uses of technology.
Dramin Weiss sets a high standard for teaching through her innovative use of technology and media, in addition to a creative approach to course development and instruction. She demonstrates a keen sensitivity to the advising needs of online students, ensuring that they receive the support and guidance required to excel in their studies.
Lee embodies student-centered teaching and learning. She consistently ensures that students in her courses are provided high quality content and an engaging learning environment. She has a tireless work ethic teaching and advising primarily within the diversity and equity concentration area of her unit. She recently took on the role of program coordinator and is responsible for organizing diversity and equity admissions, course planning and advising.
Faculty, specialized faculty and teaching assistants are eligible for the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. The honorees, along with descriptions provided by their nominators, include:
Eliot Bethke, teaching assistant, bioengineering, is a doctoral candidate with the natural competencies of a talented educator and scholar, which is his career ambition. As an undergraduate teaching assistant, his enthusiasm and abilities for combining computational methods into engineering and medical education are rare and advantageous. Bethke’s research is nontraditional for an engineering graduate student, considering its focus on educational methods and innovations in technical curricula.
Emily Harrington, teaching assistant, speech and hearing sciences, is a fourth-year doctoral student whose teaching expertise has grown from her knowledge of adult learning principles first developed during her years as an early interventionist. In this role, she was responsible for coaching parents on methods to support their children’s social engagement and communication development. Through her doctoral research on parent coaching practices, Harrington has continued to deepen her theoretical knowledge of adult learning principles, advance her instructional skills and reflect on ways to support and individualize instruction to learners’ characteristics and needs.
Lucía Sánchez-Gilbert, teaching assistant, Spanish and Portuguese, has excelled as an undergraduate teaching assistant in the beginning, intermediate and advanced levels of Spanish language, literature and culture courses. She has served as the main instructor for 10 different classes in the past six years, many of her own design. Sánchez-Gilbert has taught a broad range of courses in a variety of modalities. She has taught literature, film, popular culture and topics on queer and disability studies, and others through in-person, online and hybrid formats.
Gabriela Tscholl, teaching assistant, communication, is a gifted instructor and an outstanding member of her department’s pedagogical community. She is a versatile, experienced teacher of some of the most challenging courses in her department and is a quintessential one-on-one relationship builder. Her teaching is grounded in clear communication with students and thoughtful listening. She works to cultivate fellow student instructors’ connections with her students in the classroom and in one-on-one feedback settings.
Walter James Venerable III, teaching assistant, psychology, contributes to undergraduate instruction as a teaching assistant by updating course material and supporting his fellow graduate student instructors — particularly those who are new to the department. As an experienced graduate instructor, Venerable provided his course materials and assistance to new instructors, invited them to attend his lectures and co-taught with new instructors to better assist them. Venerable’s personal initiative is a vital contribution to his colleagues, facilitating effectiveness in teaching their courses.
Abdussalam Alawini, a professor of computer science, accomplishes extraordinary teaching effectiveness through his dedication to pedagogies of engagement and his prowess with implementation. His contributions include the development of autograding course materials for a wide range of database topics and a flipped classroom model where students perform collaborative problem solving in class. The autograded course materials are state-of-the-art, using randomized questions that allow students to practice them multiple times, write database queries for sophisticated problems and receive immediate feedback on their work.
Robyn Deterding, instructor, recreation, sport and tourism, purposely creates classroom settings and activities that are challenging, inclusive and empowering. The philosophy of learn-by-doing is a consistent theme throughout her classes. Deterding has demonstrated a deep-rooted commitment to inclusion and diversity through her uncommon ability to coordinate forums for student dialogues on issues such as racial equality or LGBTQ inclusion, and to integrate social justice themes in her classes.
Rich Excell, a professor of finance, is considered a catalyst for his department’s success in developing future leaders in the investment management industry. His extensive experience in finance helps him identify advanced best practices. Through his oversight of the Investment Management Academy, the student-run investment portfolio and supervision of student practicum teams, Excell has provided transformative action-learning experiences.
Alexandra Harmon-Threatt, a professor of entomology, uses an engaging, interactive and technologically integrated teaching method for her courses. She adheres to a philosophy of students gaining an understanding of fundamental scientific principles and basic scientific literacy as it relates to one of the primary intersections of science with their daily lives: the problem of environmental challenges and their management. To effectively teach sensitive environment and race topics, she uses a charismatic lecture style to engage diverse students.
Pinshane Huang, a professor of materials science and engineering, teaches in-depth course content while engaging students through a dynamic, interactive teaching style. Her teaching philosophy relies on student engagement, execution of course concepts through practice and prompt feedback, and generalization to deepen understanding while improving retention. In teaching an introductory materials science and engineering course and an electron microscopy course, Huang’s approach includes in-class activities, demos and frontier-of-science topics related to societal issues.
Prashant Jain, a professor of chemistry, demonstrates that physical chemistry can be stimulating, engaging and accessible. Both in the classroom and lab, he uses the Socratic method of instruction, to build concepts from the ground up through a series of back-and-forth Q&A with his class. His approach ensures interactive and engaging instruction while giving students a sense of participation in the development of the concepts they’re being taught.
Konstantinos Kourtikakis, a professor of political science, includes hybrid components in all his courses, in addition to developing and teaching several pure online classes. He records all his in-person course meetings and makes videos available for students to review at their convenience. Kourtikakis’s innovative, career-focused instruction and mentoring are among his most consequential contributions. He recognizes that political science majors engage in many professions and develops assignments and in-class exercises that motivate his students to connect course content to their professional aspirations.
Angela Lyons, a professor of agricultural and consumer economics, has consistently excelled in her teaching contributions, playing an instrumental role in growing enrollments in the consumer economics and finance concentration. Lyons’ hallmarks are her visionary teaching methods; quality, care and attention to teaching beyond the classroom; and linking research, teaching and mentoring. She maintains an active research program which she integrates with her teaching activities.
Julie Price, senior lecturer, English, has considerable reach as a senior lecturer as she teaches across decades, continents and literary form. She has taught dedicated workshops in poetry, fiction and creative nonfiction encompassing broad types and levels of student experience. Price enlists her students in a creative process characterized by rigorous attention to detail and a shared sense of purpose. Former students credit her with having set them on a path to success and fulfillment as teachers, lawyers, therapists, editors, entrepreneurs and other professionals, but above all as writers.
Charee Thompson, a professor of communication, is training future generations of health professionals to critically evaluate and disseminate messages about health. She is an expert in health communication, studying how family members and physicians talk about invisible health conditions such as chronic pain, mental illness and weight management issues. She provides a welcoming, stimulating environment in her classes and creates ways for students to grow beyond the classroom. She regularly supervises independent studies to involve undergraduates in her research.