4 faculty honored for post-baccalaureate teaching
Real-world examples and consideration for the individual experience help these instructors stay connected to students in meaningful ways.
The Distinguished Teaching Awards for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction were first given by the University in 1995 to recognize this important teaching role. Each of the four winners receives a one-time stipend of $5,000 and a framed citation.
James J. Fiordalisi, pharmacology department, School of Medicine
Who is the best teacher you’ve had and why?
My Carolina post-doc adviser, Professor Adrienne Cox. Most of what I do well as a teacher I learned from her. She taught her mentees how to present information as a coherent story supported by intuitive visuals and a structured but casual speaking style. Students consistently respond well to this approach.
What’s something creative you’ve done to engage your students?
I co-created pharmacology case studies for physician assistant students that emphasize applying basic science concepts to clinical scenarios. Unlike traditional case-based learning, these focus primarily on underlying drug mechanisms and their effect on physiology rather than on clinical management. They consistently foster lively, peer-to-peer discussion that helps concepts stick.
University Teaching Awards
The University Teaching Awards annually recognize outstanding teaching and mentoring of undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate students. Faculty, staff, students, and alumni nominate deserving teachers and mentors.
Rainier D. Masa, School of Social Work
Who is the best teacher you’ve had and why?
My best teacher was Dr. Shenyang Guo when he taught at UNC School of Social Work. Deeply knowledgeable and highly intentional, he made complex statistical concepts accessible without oversimplifying them. His infectious love for research and applied statistics inspired me and encouraged me to keep learning.
What’s something creative you’ve done to engage your students?
One creative way I engage students is by learning their research interests and tailoring examples accordingly. Rather than relying only on broad, general illustrations, I show how specific research methods apply to the topics they care about. This makes the material more relevant, concrete and engaging.
Michelle Robinson, American studies department, College of Arts and Sciences
Who is the best teacher you’ve had and why?
Professor Jon D. Levenson at Harvard Divinity School, who taught “The Jewish Liturgical Year.” Terrible jokes, but he learned the name of every single student in the lecture.
What’s something creative you’ve done to engage your students?
In “The Anti-’50s,” we live tweeted the horror novel “Some of Your Blood” by Theodore Sturgeon during scheduled reading times. It amplified the suspense and we all noticed more about how this literary text worked, even as it was scaring us.
Dr. Ronald P. Strauss, Adams School of Dentistry and School of Medicine
Who is the best teacher you’ve had and why?
My best teacher was Dr. Renee Fox, a well-known Medical Sociologist, and my Ph.D. adviser at the University of Pennsylvania. Her experience as an undergraduate who contracted polio defined her career and world view. With two new graduate students per year, she knew me well and had very high expectations.
What’s something creative you’ve done to engage your students?
I love to work with seminar groups of learners and organize them into small breakout sessions where they function as a team to develop approaches or solutions to difficult or vexing questions. This has been especially rich in teaching bioethics and medical-dental social science.
