CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Faculty and staff members, and graduate teaching assistants at the U. of I. were honored April 30 for excellence in teaching, mentoring and advising. Each was recognized during a reception at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.
Faculty members honored with the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, with comments from their nominations:
John Murphy, communication, is known by his students and colleagues alike as a “passionate and highly accomplished educator.” By presenting complex subjects to his students in manageable and creative ways, he prepares his students to move on to higher-level work and apply what they have learned by the end of a course. His teaching philosophy is aimed at “helping students grow beyond a ‘rhetoric as rules’ approach to communication and instead cultivates an understanding of ‘rhetoric in action.’”
Fiona I.B. Ngô, Asian American studies and gender and women’s studies, is an enthusiastic and flexible teacher. She consistently goes above and beyond
to provide exceptional learning experiences for her students. She believes that teaching critical analytical skills is indispensable in shaping undergraduate students’ ability to decode the world. Her teaching style is described as having a positive impact on learning and a “transformative effect” in the classroom.
Andrea Stevens, English, is considered one of the department’s “most brilliant instructors, an innovator who galvanizes her students’ enthusiasm for often difficult material, and molds them into strong critical readers and writers.” Her teaching philosophy is to train students to be both literate and attuned to the idea of “literary scholarship as an ongoing conversation to which they can contribute their own original arguments.”
Bradley Sutton, bioengineering, has an incredibly effective teaching approach, and students choose his courses “simply due to his excellence as an instructor.” His teaching reputation is credited to the innovations in his lectures and lab courses, which he unites with a progressive approach when introducing new material. By involving students in the development of models to explain complex concepts related to biological systems, he empowers them with the ability to model anything.
Amy Woods, kinesiology and community health, has a passion for students and their success. She captures students’ attention and engages them fully in the curriculum through her student-centered teaching philosophy. She views her responsibility as an educator to be “both within and beyond the brick-and-mortar building.” She sees her students as equals in the learning process.
Instructional staff members who received the award:
Dawn M. Bohn, the director for Off-campus Programs and a teaching associate of food science and human nutrition, enters every classroom ready to inspire and bring out the best in her students, empowering them to transform themselves into the professionals they aspire to be. She creates a learning environment that is inviting, sincere and promotes critical thinking and responsible learning for students so they will evolve both personally and professionally. Her effectiveness is reflected in her students’ steadfast support of her style.
Jennifer Follis, a lecturer in journalism, has a remarkable record of teaching excellence and innovation with “an unparalleled dedication and commitment to her students” in her 30 years of teaching on the U. of I. campus. One student said Follis “cares about how students take the classroom to the real world, and she impacts their future.” With passion, commitment and imagination, she teaches of the important role journalists play in society.
Adam Poetzel, a clinical professor of curriculum and instruction, empowers his students to become engaged and enthusiastic about teaching mathematics. He instills in them a responsibility to make their own students discover and value their mathematical capabilities. Poetzel often cites a Chinese proverb in his course syllabi: “Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.”
Graduate teaching assistants who received the award: Miranda Haus-Segura, plant biology; Ann Hubert, English; Alicia Kozma, media and cinema studies; Audrey Neville, political science; and Elyse Yeager, mathematics.
The awards recognize professors, instructional staff members 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 improve instruction, including influencing the curriculum.
Faculty members and instructional staff members selected for the awards each receive $5,000 cash and a $3,000 recurring salary increase; graduate teaching assistants receive $3,500.
Other honorees:
John Lambros, aerospace engineering, and Albert J. Valocchi, civil and environmental engineering, received the Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching. Each receives $5,000 and a $3,000 recurring salary increase.
Lambros has had an important leadership role in graduate education in aerospace engineering. He has contributed to the revision of the graduate curriculum through the creation of innovative graduate courses and the online master’s program. He uses problem-solving techniques and hands-on projects in his teaching, which allow students to apply concepts to real-life engineering structures and materials.
Valocchi has implemented a number of changes to improve the quality of the graduate student experience by giving them a more active voice in the department. With a philosophy that “recognizes that each student is unique,” he shares his knowledge and experience to help students discover their professional goals and define their own measures of success.
Mark Rood, civil and environmental engineering, rreceived the Campus Award for Excellence in Guiding Undergraduate Research. The $2,000 award is designed to foster and reward excellence in involving and guiding undergraduate students in scholarly research. Rood is known as a remarkable mentor as a result of his active and continued accomplishments with undergraduate research assistants for nearly 30 years.
Andrew G. Alleyne, mechanical science and engineering, and Violet Harris, curriculum and instruction, received the Campus Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring, which provides each recipient with $2,000.
Alleyne’s philosophy on mentoring graduate students is understanding each student’s life goals. Understanding each student as an individual allows him to identify their strengths and weaknesses, which helps the students to develop a plan to achieve their goals. He is a dedicated mentor to students, particularly to those in underrepresented groups. Former graduate students said he is “a dedicated mentor who recognizes that personal success is just as important as professional success.”
Harris advocates for all students, nurtures their intellectual development, and imbues within them a sense of commitment to intellectual advancement and equality in educational and cultural institutions. She commits personal time to support her mentees, including time on weekends and holidays. She advocates for her students and nurtures their intellectual development. Harris encourages her students to “expand their intellectual horizons” and “open themselves to the possibilities of many perspectives.”
Richard Gorvett, mathematics, and Carol Firkins, an academic adviser for the Community Health Program in the College of Applied Health Sciences, received the Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Advising, which provides each recipient with $2,000.
Gorvett has had an intense influence on many students. He believes the best approach to advising students is to consider each one “holistically – not just as a college student earning a degree, but as an entire person.” A former student said Gorvett’s “passion is evident through his connections with students in a manner that inspires them to succeed.”
Firkins is an advocate for students because she takes time to get to know each one of her advisees and invests in their successes. She embraces each student’s diversity and treats them with dignity, value and respect. Her students said, “She has been there to support and encourage us every step of the way.” She always offers her assistance to colleagues, and as an adviser, she aims to foster within students critical thinking skills and self-responsibility.
Anjale Welton, education policy, organization and leadership, received the Campus Award for Excellence in Online and Distance Teaching. The award consists of $5,000 to be placed in the recipient's research/teaching account and $1,000 for the recipient’s academic unit to further develop the program.
Welton is a strong, capable, and intensely thoughtful scholar and teacher who is able to “mitigate the distance in ‘distance learning.’” Innovative and student-centered, she addresses topics that can be difficult even in face-to-face classes. “That she is able to do this in an online forum is a remarkable testament to what thoughtful scholar-professors can accomplish.” Welton states that because her students lead complex lives, “technology is instrumental in helping them feel connected to the university.”
Three faculty members also were recognized as University Distinguished Teacher-Scholars. Gretchen M. Adams, an instructor and the director of Undergraduate Studies and of the Merit Program in the department of chemistry, and Matthew West, mechanical science and engineering, were honored for 2014-15. Jennifer Amos, a senior lecturer and the director of Undergraduate Programs for bioengineering, was honored for 2015-16.
The University Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Program, sponsored by the Teaching Advancement Board and the Office of the Provost, honors and supports outstanding instructors who take an active role in promoting learning on campus. Although the appointment lasts one year, honorees carry the designation with them throughout their careers.