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Mary Jo Bojan Awarded the C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching

21 March 2011
Mary Jo Bojan Awarded the C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching

Mary Jo Bojan, a lecturer and coordinator of general chemistry in the Department of Chemistry at Penn State University, has been honored with the 2010 C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching, sponsored by the Alumni Society of the Eberly College of Science at Penn State. Instituted in 1972 and named in honor of Clarence I. Noll, dean of the college from 1965 to 1971, the award is the highest honor for undergraduate teaching in the college. Students, faculty members, and alumni nominate outstanding faculty members who best exemplify the key characteristics of a Penn State educator, and a committee of students and faculty members select among nominees.

In 1991, Bojan became an instructor and research associate at Penn State, where she focused on using computer simulations to study the adsorption of gases on solid surfaces. Then, in 2003, she became a lecturer in the Department of Chemistry. She is responsible for the development, implementation, and maintenance of Chemistry 108 — a course designed to help students at risk of failure, and for the development and assessment of teaching-assistant training programs in general chemistry classes. In addition, Bojan has created computer-based homework and quizzes for students in the Department of Chemistry. She serves as the coordinator of the general-chemistry lecture courses and is in the process of creating a web-based version of Chemistry 110.

In 2009, Bojan was honored with the Priestley Prize for Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching in Chemistry. She is a member of the American Chemical Society, and she also is active in science outreach communities including the Penn State Learning Center, the Schreyer Institute for Teaching and Learning, and the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teaching community.

Bojan earned a doctoral degree in chemistry at Penn State in 1986. She earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry at DePaul University in Chicago in 1981.