Ten Graduate Students Recognized for Outstanding Teaching

Penn State will present 10 students with Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Awards during the annual Student Awards Ceremony at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 14, at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.

The award, jointly sponsored by the Graduate School and the Office of the Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education, recognizes graduate student teaching assistants for superior instruction in the areas of physical science and engineering, life sciences, social and behavioral sciences, and the arts and humanities. The recipients receive $500 and a framed certificate.

The selection committee judges nominees on criteria, including effectiveness of their presentations, use of clear and fair evaluation procedures, accessibility to their students, and sensitivity to individual differences in the classroom.

The 2002 winners are: Michael E. Brown, management and organization; Douglas N. Dow, art history; Oscar Fernàndez, comparative literature; Andrew Greenberg, chemistry; Nelson Hayes, biology; Eric Lorentzen, English; Kimberly A. Roth, mathematics; Oscar J. Shutt, industrial and manufacturing engineering; Jaime Stallard Whitlock, geosciences; and Bernd Wittek , materials science and engineering.

Brown has taught courses in organizational behavior and business ethics, and came to the Smeal College of Business Administration’s Ph.D. program with a background in educational fund-raising. A husband and father of two, he earned praise for his commitment to fostering critical inquiry in the classroom, and for moving from theory to practice in his teaching and research on leadership issues.

Dow’s teaching assignments have included Introduction to Art, History of Art II and Italian Renaissance Art, from which he garnered students’ plaudits for his enthusiasm, preparation and knowledge. With his research interests in Italian renaissance art, he is known for connecting the historical context of the times to events in the contemporary world as a way of engaging his students in classroom discussions.

Fernàndez’s work in the classroom has spanned English and Spanish instruction, world literature, myths and mythologies, the literature of the occult and more. His ability to teach from a global perspective was highlighted by his nominators for the award. He has concentrated much of his research on issues related to HIV/AIDS in literature and such authors as Nuria Amat and Severo Sarduy.

Greenberg is pursuing a program emphasizing chemistry education, and has taught introductory organic chemistry labs for more than four years. Those who nominated him for the award pointed out his involvement in the Fun and Learning Activities in Science for Kids (FLASK) outreach projects to local schools and the Science Action Potential Summer Program, as well as his devotion to curriculum improvements and student guidance.

Hayes’s teaching experience ranges from courses on biodiversity to plant anatomy, and he is known for his skills at designing and implementing high-tech teaching methods, such as Web-based computer modules. While his research focuses on the hitherto unknown scope of effects of inbreeding on the male function of plants, he is applauded by nominators for innovations in online course content that are positively affecting nearly 1,000 students each year.

Lorentzen has led courses in such topics as British literature, writing in the humanities, technical writing, and rhetoric and composition. He is recognized as a demanding yet intellectually stimulating instructor. Although he mainly concentrates on 19th and 20th century fiction for his degree work, his teaching is highly interdisciplinary--in one class project, for instance, his students focused on Walt Disney films and a book-length critical analysis of the Disney empire.

Roth has taught courses ranging from finite mathematics to multivariate and vector calculus and differential equations, and garnered praise from her nominators for motivating even non-math majors through real-world examples of mathematic principles. She is also known for her involvement in undergraduate tutoring and the creation of a new graduate teaching assistant training program, and for her availability for consultation outside the classroom.

Shutt’s teaching has focused on the laboratory section of a required senior course in industrial engineering on human factors engineering, the students of which have cheered his leadership skills, approachability and clarity. In addition to his own research on software development for time studies, he recently developed a new Web site for the course, and has tutored with the Morgan Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes.

Whitlock has been a lab instructor for courses in physical geology and Earth materials, as well as taught the geology of the national parks and natural disasters (the latter course is a popular “Hollywood vs. Reality” general education offering that she helped develop). Those who nominated her for the award pointed out her dedication to science education and service as a role model for women in science while also pursuing her own research in petrology.

Wittek has assisted with at least a half dozen materials and metals science and engineering courses and helped post them online, and was noted by his nominators for his enthusiasm for applying computer-based technologies and implementing new laboratory experiments within the program. A researcher on corrosion for his degree work, he is also active with the International Hospitality Council for Penn State and with the Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science.

Contact:

Gary W. Cramer, Penn State Department of Public Information, at (814) 865-7517 or gwc104@psu.edu