UNC News release -- Carolina’s 2006 top teaching award winners honored for classroom, mentoring excellence

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News Release

For immediate use

Feb. 6, 2006 -- No. 55

Photo note: To download photos of the winners, see end of story.

Local angles: Hendersonville,
Moncure; Naples, Fla.

Carolina’s 2006 top teaching award winners
honored for classroom, mentoring excellence

CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has selected recipients of the 2006 distinguished teaching awards, the highest campus-wide recognition for teaching excellence.

The 21 honorees, selected in nine categories, were recognized during halftime of Saturday’s (Feb. 4) Carolina-Clemson men’s basketball game and will be recognized by UNC-Chapel Hill 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 six of the nine award categories. Separate committees in the College of Arts and Sciences chose winners of the Sanders and Sitterson awards, working closely with the campus wide committee. Fellows in the Johnston Scholarship Program nominated and selected the Johnston Award winner and also worked with the campus wide committee.

This year’s honorees come from the College of Arts and Sciences, Kenan-Flagler Business School and the School of Social Work.

"The Teaching Awards Committee has a very difficult task because so many excellent teachers receive nominations. Choosing the winners from hundreds of nominations requires many hours of work by the committee members and their dedication to this important process is a real testament to how seriously the University takes teaching and learning," said Kevin Stewart, chair of the Teaching Awards Committee and an associate professor of geological sciences. "That said, the work is also very rewarding and inspirational. The winners of this year’s awards represent a broad cross section of the University and they are all outstanding teachers. We as a University can be extremely proud of the quality of teaching that we provide to our students."

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. Inger S. Brodey of Chapel Hill, assistant professor of comparative literature; Dr. Mary Floyd-Wilson of Chapel Hill, associate professor of English; Dr. Timothy Marr of Chapel Hill, assistant professor of American studies; Dr. David Reeve of Chapel Hill, DKE Distinguished professor of philosophy; and Dr. Mort Webster of Carrboro, assistant professor of public policy.

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.

Carolina 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 six graduate teaching assistants and carry a one-time stipend of $1,000. The 2006 recipients are: Allison Connolly of Carrboro, department of romance languages; Matthew Ezzell of Carrboro, department of sociology; Thomas J. Mustillo of Durham, department of political science; Bridget Raburn of Chapel Hill, department of biology; Dave Roberts of Chapel Hill, department of psychology; and Demetrius Semien of Chapel Hill, department of sociology.

Dr. Yee Jack Ng of Chapel Hill, professor of physics, received the William C. Friday/Class of 1986 Award for Excellence in Teaching, which honors one undergraduate faculty member and includes a one-time stipend of $5,000.

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. Alfred J. Field of Chapel Hill, professor of economics and associate chair/director of the Undergraduate Program in Economics, 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 UNC alumnus Ben M. Jones III, of Hendersonville and Naples, Fla., to honor Sanders.

Dr. Drew Coleman of Chapel Hill, associate professor of geological sciences, 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 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. Robert Bushman of Chapel Hill, the Forensic Accounting Distinguished Professor of accounting in the Kenan-Flagler Business School; Dr. Iris B. Carlton-LaNey of Durham, professor of social work; Dr. Arturo Escobar of Carrboro, Kenan professor of anthropology; Dr. Carol Mavor of Chapel Hill, professor of art history in the department of art. This award was first given by the university in 1995.

Dr. Jim Massey of Moncure, former curator of the UNC Herbarium, 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.

The Johnston Teaching Excellence Award goes to a faculty member for excellence in undergraduate teaching. The recipient receives $5,000. The 2006 recipient is Dr. Kathryn Burns of Carrboro, associate professor of history. Created in 1991, this award is funded by the James M. Johnston Scholarship Program, which provides need-based scholarships to the university.

This year’s UNC-Chapel Hill nominee for the UNC Board of Governors’ Award for Excellence in Teaching is Dr. Joseph Lowman of Chapel Hill, professor of psychology. 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.

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Note: Stewart can be reached at (919) 962-0683 or kgstewar@email.unc.edu

News Services contacts: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589, or Lisa Katz, (919) 962-2093 or lisa_katz@unc.edu