“The purpose of the Texas Excellence Teaching Awards is to encourage quality teaching at the University,” said Kim Gundersen, coordinator of Student Relations at the Ex-Students’ Association, which sponsors and co-funds the awards. “The awards recognize individuals whose teaching and personal relations with students have had effective, positive influence on the lives and educational experience of students.
“Those selected have demonstrated warmth of spirit, a concern for society and the individual, the ability to impart knowledge while challenging students to independent inquiry and creative thought, and an understanding of the permanent values of our culture.”
Each professor receives $1,000, and the graduate instructors receive $500. Gundersen said that recipients are selected by student committees, which are organized by various student councils and coordinated through the Cabinet of College Councils. The committees solicit nominations from students and select one professor recipient and one graduate instructor recipient per college, based on the criteria set forth.
“The Ex-Students’ Association has no formal policy concerning a nominee’s tenure, the number of nominations made, or the number of times an individual has received the award,” Gundersen said. “This criteria is left to the discretion of each selection committee.” Because the Education College Council chose not to participate in the selection process this year, Gundersen added, no recipients from the College of Education were chosen.
Funding for the professor’s Texas Excellence Teaching Award is provided by The Ex-Students’ Association’s Eyes of Texas Annual Giving Club. Funding for the graduate instructor’s Texas Excellence Teaching Awards is provided by the Office of the President of UT Austin.
This year’s recipients are
- School of Architecture — Joyce Rosner, Jodi Lane
- College of Business Administration — Robert Prentice, Eric Youngstrom
- College of Communication — Steve Metze
- College of Engineering — George Cardwell, Geoff Wawrzyniak
- College of Fine Arts — Lucien Douglas, Jennifer Kunzel
- School of Law — Ernest Smith
- LBJ School of Public Affairs — Kenneth Ashworth, Dana Baker
- College of Liberal Arts — Mia Carter, Elizabeth Moore
- Graduate School of Library & Information Science — Irene Owens, Eric Hahn
- College of Natural Sciences — Brent Iverson, Clayton Petsche
- School of Nursing — Sheri Innerarity, Scott Hudson
- College of Pharmacy — Patrick Davis, Jennie Yu Chou
- School of Social Work — Robert Ambrosino, Stephen Tripodi
The award recipients will be honored during a presentation and reception scheduled for 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 3, at the Lila B. Etter Alumni Center. The awards will be presented by UT Austin President Larry R. Faulkner; Jacob Hodges, vice-chair of the Cabinet of College Councils; and George Christian, president of The Ex-Students’ Association. Following the awards presentation will be a reception for the recipients, faculty, administration and friends, family and students of the recipients.
For more information about the presentation, contact Kim Gundersen at 471-3805.
