Thirteen faculty members and 10 teaching assistants have been honored for teaching excellence at UCSC.
Each spring the Academic Senate recognizes 10 or more members for exemplary and inspiring teaching. Winners are selected by the Committee on Teaching from a group of nominees proposed by students. Nominated faculty submit statements on their teaching, and department chairs also weigh in with information about the nominees' teaching from the departmental perspective. In making its choices, the Committee on Teaching looks first and foremost for evidence that the nominated instructor thinks deeply about pedagogy and applies that thinking in the classroom.
The winners received a $500 prize and a framed certificate presented by Chancellor M.R.C. Greenwood and Committee on Teaching chair Bruce Cooperstein on May 24 at University House and were announced at the final Academic Senate meeting of the year on May 17.
Winners were chosen on the basis of student nominations, letters of endorsement from department chairs, and individual statements on teaching.
Teaching assistant award winners were selected by the Graduate Council and received stipends of $200 each.
The faculty winners, and the wording on their certificates, are:
Kathy Anderson of Education: For passion and dedication in the teaching of mathematics, fostering the best in her students both academically and professionally, for unparalleled enthusiasm working with teacher education candidates, and for actively modeling the interrelationships between teaching and learning.
Robert Boltje of Mathematics: For making very difficult mathematics accessible to students through crystal clear logic, flawless organization, and relevant examples and for a personalized classroom where all students participate actively in learning.
John Patrick Lynch of Literature: For superb, captivating teaching of both language and literature, inspiring students through understanding, empathy, selflessness, and trust, and for an unprecedented degree of enthusiasm, openness, dedication, and sincerity in teaching classics.
James McCloskey of Linguistics: For outstanding organization, lucidity, and command of his material, for teaching a set of analytical skills as well as a body of knowledge, and for providing an intellectually stimulating learning environment characterized by respect, inspiration, and rapport.
Glenn L. Millhauser of Chemistry: For high energy, enthusiasm, and dedication in teaching chemistry, providing students with a strong foundation of scientific method, and serving as an immeasurable source of inspiration for students and motivating them to work toward the potential he believes they have.
Ingrid M. Parker of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology: For exuberant, unmistakable, and contagious passion for teaching plant ecology, imparting to students a working knowledge of course material as well as a scholarly acquaintance with the entire discipline, and for serving as a model educator to the campus and to the larger community of higher education.
Donald Rothman of Writing: For empowering students to work for social and political change through literacy, for unflagging energy and commitment to quality and critical consciousness, and for sensitive patience, humility, and continuing interest in pedagogical experimentation.
Wendy Rothwell of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology: For breadth of knowledge, enthusiasm, organization, clarity, and tireless dedication in teaching experimental biology, for teaching each student in the best way for that individual and having a huge positive impact on learning.
Paul Skenazy of Literature: For imaginative, engaged teaching in a safe, inclusive, and challenging classroom, motivating students both intellectually and emotionally, and for serving as an inspiring lecturer, mentor to apprentice teachers, innovator in course design, and advocate for student-centered learning.
Bruce Thompson of History: For charismatic, inspirational, academically challenging teaching, and selfless devotion to students in a supportive, nonthreatening classroom, for enabling students to see history, and perhaps the world, in a new way, and for striving to produce energetic, self-motivated, lifetime learners.
Anthony J. Tromba of Mathematics: For sheer enthusiasm for mathematics that inspires students to want to learn, for vast understanding of mathematics history, and for consummate lectures that demystify the subject, reconnect it with its roots, and communicate technical material in an intuitive and natural way.
Brent "Brando" Wexler of Languages: For contagious enthusiasm, a genuine interest in all students, and a highly dynamic, imaginative, and interactive approach to teaching Spanish where each communicative act is an educational opportunity for everyone.
Adrienne L. Zihlman of Anthropology: For an uncommon intensity of commitment to education and personal investment in student success in classrooms, characterized by high standards, clear expectations, and active engagement in reading, writing, and critical thinking.
Teaching assistant award winners are:
Maxwell Boykoff, Environmental Studies
Margaret D'Iorio, Earth Sciences
Michael Hudson, History
William Jones, Literature
Michael McLaughlin, Physics
Garrett Milam, Economics
Yujiao Ping, Computer Engineering
Jennifer Stanowski, Sociology
James Todd, Anthropology
Blanche Wingate, Psychology
