Caught in the Act of Good Teaching Award celebrates inspiring teachers

The Office of Faculty Development and Teaching Excellence awards the Caught in the Act of Great Teaching Award each semester to honor faculty for excellence in teaching acts that inspire students and exemplify teaching excellence.

The winners of this award for Fall 2017 are:

Dr. Joseph Newton (College of Science and Mathematics)

“Dr. Newton is building the nuclear science program from the ground up. He has said multiple times that teaching undergraduates nuclear science is his dream job and you can tell every day in class. He makes his lecture engaging and interesting. Dr. Newton is constantly promoting nuclear science by going to and speaking in multiple physics and chemistry classes because he cares that much after this program. It’s explicitly shown that he cares deeply about the nuclear science department and his students and anyone in his class can tell you that.”

Dr. John Fisher (Medical College of Georgia)

“Dr. Fisher is possibly the finest speaker that we have at MCG. He is not a walking, talking PowerPoint presentation. He is an expert that only uses his lecture slides to augment a cohesive, first person narration about what he has seen during his many years as an MD. He offers caveats and bits of wisdom that penetrate the minds of his students. He also made flashcards for his lecture as well as for other professors’ lectures, and shared them with the class. All too often lecturers muddy the content on its way from the slide to the student. Often these lecturers use the PowerPoint as a crutch for themselves. Dr. Fisher has the natural talent of combining his lecture slides with personal stories that serve as mental anchors to tie up complex subjects into a neat bow for his students to understand and enjoy. This is far more valuable to me than any and all handouts, Q&A’s, and personal emails professors have given our class thus far.”

Dr. Wendy Habegger (James M. Hull College of Business)

“It is always motivating to be in a class where enthusiasm exudes from the instructor.  Dr. Habegger consistently engages class participants in discussion.  She strategically questions to check for understanding and is certain to clarify if needed.  Master’s level classes are rigorous and often come after a day full of work or other duties leaving attendees tried to begin a session.  This particular session is late and lasts until 9:45 p.m.  Dr. Habegger fills the time with valuable, insightful, and interactive instruction to make the time seem to “fly by.”  Her energy is greatly appreciated.  In addition, her skill and knowledge brought to the Hull MBA program are commendable.”

Dr. Patricia Bowman (College of Nursing)

“Dr. Bowman immediately responded to a text message and agreed to an impromptu phone conference with a classmate and myself to discuss specific questions we had regarding our final DNP project.  This was in the middle of the day and she “met” with us immediately without hesitation.  This is not the first instance of this happening and her guidance is greatly appreciated and deserves recognition!!!”

Mr. Adam Diehl (Pamplin College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences)

“Mr. Diehl cares tremendously about his students. He cares so much that twice a semester, we MUST meet with him for 5-10 minutes to talk about anything–school, personal things, etc. He relates his lessons to modern day situations and ALWAYS makes sure we understand. He is PASSIONATE about what he teaches and it inspires us (students) to be just as passionate. Mr. Diehl is truly the best person and professor there is.”

To nominate someone for the Caught in the Act of Great Teaching Award: Students, staff and faculty members are invited to nominate faculty members for the award – with a nomination that includes a description of no more than 100 words of the act that led to the nomination. A committee reviews nominations and rates them for the extent to which the nomination identified an act that was exemplary.

Nominate here.