Excellent teachers, advisers honored for their work
ON THE GREEN | Six faculty members have received awards in recognition of their outstanding work in teaching and advising, and two teaching assistants received awards for excellence.
This year’s Excellence in Teaching Awards, which are based primarily on student evaluations, were presented to Susan Groh, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry; James Magee, professor of political science and international relations; Judith Herrman, associate professor of nursing; and Gabriella Finizio, assistant professor of foreign languages and literatures.
Groh’s interests in the area of chemical education center on the application of problem-based learning in undergraduate education.
“Students should be able to trust that an instructor has their best interests in mind, and has structured a course to give them multiple opportunities to develop their knowledge and skills as learners,” she says. “An instructor should be able to trust that students take their charge as learners seriously.”
Magee specializes in public law, emphasizing American constitutional law and the Supreme Court. He says he wants to convince his students to “think critically, conceptually and analytically—and this requires face-to-face, in-class and out-of-class interaction with students.
“The objective is to build confidence that encourages students to do their best work, to think for themselves, to convince them that they can reach a level of thinking and learning that transcends memorizing information they will forget soon after the course is finished.”
Herrman, who received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from UD, studies public policy and health, teen pregnancy and sexual behaviors, diabetes and pediatric chronic illness, and creative teaching strategies.
She says the most important aspect of the student-teacher dynamic is “the relationship itself—getting to know students and helping them learn to learn, setting up the resources and environment so they learn to teach themselves. I believe that is the essence of education.”
Finizio focuses her work on 15th and 16th century Italian and comparative literature, Italian humanism and renaissance. She teaches classes ranging from first-year language to studies of Italian cinema, politics and literature and has co-directed study abroad programs with Magee.
“Every time I enter the classroom and say ‘buongiorno’ to the students, I feel very happy and fully energized,” she says. “I tell the students that my energy comes directly from them and that they and their progress are very important to me.”
In addition to the teaching awards, two faculty members—Karen Avino, assistant professor of nursing, and Diane Wright, instructor in accounting and management information systems—received Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring Awards, an honor also based on student evaluations.
Avino, who received her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from UD, studies complementary and alternative medicine, holistic nursing, nurses’ job satisfaction and distance education. She says she believes that “developing an authentic, caring and ongoing relationship with students” is a key aspect of the student-teacher dynamic.
Wright, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at UD, has teaching interests in business information systems, financial accounting, managerial accounting, auditing, enterprise resource planning (ERP) configuration and control, and advanced auditing. “Because I’m a Blue Hen, it is a wonderful experience to advise and mentor students at my alma mater,” she says.
The 2010 Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching recipients were doctoral students Ryan McCabe, in the Department of Political Science and International Relations, and Matthew Civiletti, in the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Article by Adam Thomas
