University of Pittsburgh - Teaching Times

U N I V E R S I T Y O F P I T T S B U R G H

Volume VIII, Number 1	September 2002

Awards recognize faculty for teaching excellence

Editor’s note: Although the satisfaction from good teaching is its own reward, most faculty nevertheless appreciate student and peer recognition. With this in mind, the current issue of Teaching Times highlights teaching awards given throughout the University in 2002.

Even though I now carry the title of Chancellor, I think of myself, first and foremost, as a teacher,” states Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. “And I know, from personal experience, that few things in life are more satisfying than helping students to learn and grow and develop their full potential.”

“To paraphrase Henry Adams,” Nordenberg continues, “teachers touch eternity; they can never tell where their influence will end. And that is so true of the faculty who are honored by the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Awards and similar Pitt teaching awards. These faculty have touched the lives of students—perhaps in ways that they did not even recognize at the time. As these students move forward in life, they will be carrying that influence with them.”

Asserts Provost James V. Maher, “At the University of Pittsburgh, learning is a shared goal. Our faculty’s skilled and committed teaching helps everyone reach that goal by engaging students in critical thinking and introducing them to new ways of examining the world around them. The university environment is designed to help faculty achieve their teaching, research and service goals through a number of resources. Not the least among those resources is our formal recognition of excellent teaching; through this recognition, others are inspired by and gain insight from their colleagues’ experience.” Provost James V. Maher

The most broadly-based teaching awards at the University, the Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Awards, have been conferred since 1984. Interviews with the five 2002 recipients of these awards are on pages 2 through 6 of this issue.

Celebrating teaching in the University’s largest school, the 10,000-student College of Arts and Sciences, the Bellet Teaching Excellence Awards were established in 1998 through an endowment from alumnus David Bellet and his wife, Tina. “I am constantly impressed by the quality and dedication of the Arts and Sciences faculty,” comments Patty Beeson, Associate Dean of CAS. “To be nominated by colleagues and students from such a talented group is an achievement; to be selected as a Bellet recipient is an honor.” At a dinner honoring this year’s four Bellet awardees, Ed Stricker, professor and founding chair of the Department of Neuroscience and 2001 Bellet recipient, was the keynote speaker. The text of his speech is available on the Web pages of the Center for Instructional Development & Distance Education. Interviews with the 2002 Bellet award recipients are on pages 7 and 8 of this issue.

In addition to the more widely known Chancellor’s and Bellet teaching awards, numerous faculty are recognized annually within many of the University schools and departments. This edition of the Teaching Times has compiled a list of these awards (page 9). We realize that this list may not be complete, and ask representatives of other schools and departments to contact us with additional information to include in future issues devoted to recognition of teaching.