2006-2007 Collegiate Teaching Awards

Linda Bolton, associate professor of English, teaches courses in Native American literature and in literature and ethics that give her students a sense of why literature matters in leading a thoughtful and committed life.  Students praise the warm classroom atmosphere she creates at the same time that she firmly pushes discussions toward a deeper understanding of the cultural context and ethical implications of literary texts.  She frequently includes a community service component in her classes, particularly where issues of economic difference are central.  Students praise her for “blurring the boundary between ‘academic life’ and ‘lived life.’” Her colleagues praise her for “helping to generate and sustain an active teaching culture in the department.” Her book, Ethical Disruption and the American Mind, was published in 2003. 

Chunghi Choo, F. Wendell Miller Professor in the School of Art & Art History, is the recipient of the first Helen Kechriotis Nelson Teaching Award.  Professor Choo is a major artist whose jewelry, sculptures, and other works are in the permanent collections of highly prestigious museums around the world.  She is an inspirational teacher known for her commitment to student mentoring.  She has opened doors to the professional world for her students by including them in the shows of her own work at major galleries and museums.  Alumni and current students alike praise her unique ability to “teach creativity” and to motivate them to believe in their artistic insights.  She is a past recipient of the Amoco Teaching Award and the Regents’ Award for Faculty Excellence.   

Cornelia Lang, assistant professor of Physics & Astronomy, teaches the scientific process to all her students, whether in General Education courses on the solar system or advanced courses in radio astronomy.  Students in large introductory courses, for example, perform observing exercises looking at the night sky, and more advanced students participate in the entire research process, from drafting a proposal to presenting their scientific results.  Students praise her interactive teaching style and her ability to make astronomy accessible to majors and non-majors alike.  She is known as an excellent and committed mentor for undergraduate students, whom she involves in her research on star formation and magnetic phenomena in galactic nuclear regions (including the center of our own Milky Way).  

Margaret Mills , professor of Russian and DEO of Women’s Studies, recently completed a Master of Public Health degree at UI, which she has put to use in developing new courses and course content on the Russian health care system.  She also teaches or co-teaches courses on women in Russian and eastern European societies, and makes her courses available through distance-learning to students at other Regents’ universities. She actively promotes study abroad opportunities and helps students find the resources to pursue these opportunities.  Students praise the many events and activities she organizes to bring them into contact with Russian physicians and scholars, to incorporate a variety of media into her courses, and to “make Russian real outside the classroom.”  

Barbara Mooney, associate professor in the School of Art and Art History, has contributed to an expansion of the School’s curriculum in architectural history and “the built environment.”  Students praise her for building their intellectual confidence and for using student-led discussions and critical writing assignments to make them active participants in their learning.  They appreciate her using nontraditional ways to examine architecture and her focus on how architecture communicates specific ideas about the cultures in which it is made.  One graduate student commented that Professor Mooney demonstrates that there is “beauty in teaching.”  Her research focuses on 18th century Virginia architecture, Spanish colonial architecture, and African American art and architecture. Her book, Prodigy Houses of Virginia: Architecture and the Native Elite, will soon be published. 

Norb Pienta, associate professor of Chemistry, is currently Director of the UI’s Center for Teaching.  He redesigned the first-year chemistry courses, which have over 3,000 enrollments annually, to create an active learning environment.  He integrated lecture and lab experiments, incorporated more discussion and demonstrations, devised on-line tutorials, and made use of instructional technology for interactive problem solving and experiential learning.  In his research he measures the effect of such innovations, showing they improve students’ retention of course material.  In his department’s graduate orientation course, he teaches first-year graduate students the craft of teaching, helping them (in the words of one teaching assistant) “bridge the gap between chemistry concepts and students.” Undergraduates praise him for “bringing the textbook and lecture material to life.”   

David Redlawsk, associate professor of Political Science, teaches a range of courses on political psychology, decision making, voting behavior, political campaigning, local politics, and research methods. His courses incorporate substantial writing assignments, service learning with government or non-profit partners, student designed and conducted exit polls and surveys, and (in the local politics course) a virtual local political environment in which students each inhabit a specific role.  One student writes, “He studies ideas and forces at play in the real political world, and he brings his experiences and observations in real politics into even the most abstract discussions in the classroom.”  He frequently involves undergraduate students in his research, often resulting in student-authored conference papers and journal articles co-authored with his students.