In the midst of MU Staff Appreciation Week, the university honored its professors with the Celebration of Teaching Excellence on Tuesday in the Reynolds Alumni Center. The event also acted as a conference, with guest speakers and a variety of sessions on teaching throughout Tuesday and Wednesday.
One event in this celebration was a reception honoring MU authors and the nominees for the Professor of the Year award. More than 30 authors were showcased at the event, with books from many scholastic disciplines represented. Examples included Rabjohn Distinguished Chemistry Professor Michael Harmata’s “Silver in Organic Chemistry,” Mary Barile’s “The Santa Fe Trail in Missouri,” and “Strategic Human Resource Management in Health Care” by the University of Central Florida’s Myron Fottler and MU’s Naresh Khatri and Grant Savage.
The Professor of the Year award, sponsored by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, recognizes the top undergraduate professors and mentors in the nation. Vice Provost for Undergraduate Students Jim Spain gave a short speech and announced the nominees for this award. He began by remarking on the importance of fellowship and community.
“This is a big aspect of getting the broader community together,” Spain said. “We want to be doing that.”
Spain then congratulated Elizabeth Baker on receiving the Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology and the Ernest L. Boyer Award for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology at the 22nd International Conference on College Teaching and Learning.
“Mizzou has been a wonderful place for me to learn how to use technology to enhance learning,” she said in a release. “Mizzou provides support through ET@MO and other entities that help faculty incorporate technology in meaningful ways. I was honored to represented Mizzou at ICCTL and highlight some of the wonderful educational pedagogies being used by faculty across campus.”
Spain then announced MU’s nominees for the Professor of the Year award. First was Electrical and Computing Sciences Professor Greg Triplett, whose teaching, according to Spain, “is not limited to the classroom.”
Triplett has mentored 16 undergraduate students and initiated two programs to improve student success: the Minority Student Network and Increasing Retention in Electrical and Computer Engineering. As what Spain noted was a testament to his devotion to student success, Triplett was absent from the reception, away working on the Global Scholars Program.
Conversely, Triplett’s fellow nominee, Rural Sociology Professor Mary Grigsby, was present. She also teaches an advanced undergraduate course in Science and Technology.
“(Science and Technology) is a critical course for students on campus with significant research activities in the life sciences,” Spain said.
Spain praised Grigsby as being both engaging and a student favorite. He then extolled her new book, “College Life through the Eyes of Students,” advising everyone to put it on their summer reading lists.
“It examines the different perspectives that students bring to campus and bring into our classrooms each and every day,” Spain said.
Both Grigsby and Triplett will represent MU as nominees for the U.S. Professors of the Year award. Final results of this contest are to be announced in September.
Wrapping up his time at the podium, Spain pointed out that attendance of this year’s conference was 25 percent higher than last year’s. He ended by thanking all of the professors present for coming in the afternoon that grades are due, saying it proved that at MU, “teaching matters.”