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NEWS SERVICES |
NEWS
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Feb. 18, 2004 -- No. 84 |
Photos note: To download photos, see end of the release.
UNC honors teaching excellence represented
in variety of areas; 10 categories are featured
By STEPHANIE GUNTER
UNC News Services
CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has selected recipients of the 2004 distinguished teaching awards, the highest campuswide recognition for teaching excellence.
Honorees were recognized during halftime of the Feb. 15 UNC-Maryland men’s basketball game and will be recognized by UNC Chancellor James Moeser at an awards banquet this spring.
The University Committee on Teaching Awards, affiliated with the Office of the Provost, reviews nominees, collects additional information and recommends nominees to the chancellor on nine award categories. The James M. Johnston Scholarship Program oversees the 10th category, the Johnston Teaching Excellence Awards, in coordination with the campuswide committee.
This year’s honorees come from the College of Arts and Sciences and five professional schools.
"The teachers who came up again and again were the kind who give a tremendous amount of time and energy to students and are devoted to their discipline," said Dr. Peter Filene, chair of the committee and Bowman and Gray distinguished term professor of history at UNC.
"These teachers brought not only an excitement to the classroom, but that excitement was infectious. They also brought a high level of academic standards. There was a sense of partnership in teaching and learning in these classrooms."
The Tanner Faculty Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching go to five faculty members and carry a one-time stipend of $5,000. Recipients are: Dr. Daniel P. Gitterman, assistant professor, department of public policy; Dr. Sherryl Kleinman, professor and director of undergraduate studies, department of sociology; Donna LeFebvre, lecturer and internship director, department of political science; Dr. Steven W. Matson, professor and chair, department of biology; and Bland Simpson, associate professor and director of the creative writing program, department of English.
These awards were created in 1952 with a bequest by Kenneth S. Tanner, a member of the class of 1911, and his sister, Sara Tanner Crawford, establishing an endowment fund in memory of their parents, Lola Spencer and Simpson Bobo Tanner.
UNC expanded the scope of the Tanner faculty awards in 1990 to recognize excellence in the teaching of undergraduates by graduate teaching assistants. The Tanner Teaching Assistants’ Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching go to five graduate teaching assistants and carry a one-time stipend of $1,000. Recipients are: Glen Feighery, School of Journalism and Mass Communication; Scott Halbritter, department of English; Lynn Owens, department of sociology; Susanne Sreedhar, department of philosophy; and John Ware, department of English.
The William C. Friday/Class of 1986 Award for Excellence in Teaching honors one undergraduate faculty member, who receives a one-time stipend determined by available funding. Dr. Todd W. Taylor, assistant professor in the department of English, is this year’s recipient.
This award, created with a gift from the class of 1986, honors full-time undergraduate faculty members who have exemplified excellence in inspirational teaching. Friday, the award’s namesake, served 30 years as UNC system president (until his retirement in 1986) and now is University distinguished professor on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus.
Dr. Thomas Oatley, associate professor and associate chair in the department of political science, received the John L. Sanders Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching and Service. The award, which carries a one-time stipend of $5,000, recognizes excellence in the teaching, advising and mentoring of undergraduate students in a manner consistent with the life and values of Sanders, longtime director of the UNC Institute of Government, now part of the School of Government. The award was created in 1995 by Ben M. Jones III to honor Sanders.
Dr. Beth Kurtz-Costes, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies for the department of psychology, received the J. Carlyle Sitterson Freshman Teaching Award, which goes to a faculty member teaching first-year students and carries a one-time stipend of $5,000.
This award was created in 1998 by the family of the late J. Carlyle Sitterson to recognize excellence in freshman teaching by a tenured or tenure-track faculty member in the College of Arts and Sciences. Sitterson was a Kenan professor of history and UNC chancellor from 1966 to 1972.
The Distinguished Teaching Awards for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction go to four full-time faculty members and carry a one-time stipend of $5,000. Recipients are: Dr. James E. Faber, professor and director of graduate studies, department of cell and molecular physiology; Dr. David Guilkey, Boshamer distinguished professor, department of economics; Dr. Philip Gura, William S. Newman distinguished professor of American literature and culture and associate chair, department of English; and Dr. Evelyne H. Huber, Morehead Alumni professor of political science and director of the Institute of Latin American Studies, department of political science. This award was first given by the university in 1995.
The University Professor of Distinguished Teaching Award, given every three years, provides two three-year term professorships recognizing career teaching excellence. One award is for tenured faculty in academic affairs, including professional schools, and one is for tenured faculty in health affairs.
Each recipient receives a stipend of $3,000 annually. Recipients are Dr. Robert E. Daniels, associate professor, department of anthropology; and Dr. Stephen C. Bayne, professor, School of Dentistry.Dr. David J. Holbrook, professor in the Curriculum in Toxicology in the School of Medicine, has received the Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement, which acknowledges "teaching beyond the classroom." Created in 1997, this award carries a one-time stipend of $1,000.
This year’s UNC-Chapel Hill nominee for the UNC Board of Governors’ Award for Excellence in Teaching is Dr. Gary Armstrong, Crist W. Blackwell distinguished professor of marketing in the Kenan-Flagler Business School. Established by the Board of Governors in April 1994 to underscore the importance of teaching and to reward good teaching across the UNC system, the awards are given annually to a tenured faculty member from each UNC campus and will be formally announced at the March Board of Governors meeting.
Nominees, who each receive a $7,500 stipend and a bronze medallion, will be honored at a luncheon this spring.
The Johnston Teaching Excellence Award goes to two faculty members for excellence in undergraduate teaching. Each recipient receives $5,000. Recipients are: Dr. Todd L. Austell, research assistant professor and director of the general chemistry laboratories, department of chemistry; and Dr. Eric S. Downing, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies in 2002-2003, Curriculum of Comparative Literature. Created in 1991, these awards are funded by the James M. Johnston Scholarship Program, which provides need-based scholarships to the university.
Nominations for outstanding teachers are accepted throughout the year, and information on the nomination process is available on the Web at http://www.unc.edu/teachawards.
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(Gunter, of Raleigh, is a senior majoring in journalism and mass communication.)
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Contact: Pat Clark, (919) 962-7882 or pclark@email.unc.edu
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