CTE Recognizes Educators, 25th Anniversary at Celebration of Teaching Excellence

The University community is invited to attend the Celebration of Teaching Excellence, the annual awards ceremony hosted by the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) to honor faculty and graduate students for their innovation and teaching excellence. This year’s event will also recognize the center’s 25th anniversary.

University Provost Dr. Timothy Austin will confer the awards at the ceremony on Thursday, March 26, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Power Center Ballroom.

The CTE Creative Teaching Award is presented to faculty who have implemented innovative teaching methods and have demonstrated the impact these methods make on student learning. The awardees are:

  • Dr. Kathleen Hartzel and Dr. Jacqueline Pike, Palumbo-Donahue School of Business, who created and implemented the Fetch Simulation Project that allows students to experience failing information system business processes and formulate requirements for a solution
  • Dr. Laura Mahalingappa and Dr. Elizabeth Hughes, School of Education, who designed a virtual field experience through which future teachers interact with English language learners and are guided in tailoring their own language appropriately
  • Dr. Linda Koharchik, School of Nursing, who led the school-wide implementation of a single approach to dosage calculations, resulting in student scores on national exams that far exceeded national averages.

The Graduate Student Award for Excellence in Teaching promotes and rewards teaching effectiveness by graduate students and provides nominees with practical experience on how to present evidence of teaching excellence. Nominees created portfolios and demonstrated ways to integrate rigorous learning with creative teaching strategies. The award recipients are:

  • Johanna Sullivan, McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts
  • Bryon Williams, McAnulty College and Graduate School of Liberal Arts
  • Amanda Zielen, Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences.

CTE will also recognize three colleagues who embody the spirit of the center by helping to foster an environment where teaching grows through scholarship, practice, reflection and collaboration. The 2015 honorees are:

  • Natasha Dias, Bayer School of Natural and Environmental Sciences
  • Leslie Lewis, Gumberg Library
  • Dr. Jason Margolis, School of Education.

Certificate of University Teaching recipients, CTE workshop presenters, award committee members and faculty near-peer mentors will also be recognized for their leadership to their colleagues.

In addition to conferring the awards, Austin will provide remarks commemorating CTE’s 25th anniversary.

For more information, contact the Center for Teaching Excellence at 412.396.5177. An RSVP is not required to attend.