By Rachel Morse, Staff Writer
The Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning honored six faculty members April 15 at the fourth annual Faculty Award Luncheon.
This luncheon, born from the instating of CETL on the OCU campus five years ago, is an event open to all faculty and staff. It serves as one of the few times that faculty across the OCU campus are able to come together and recognize those who deserve recognition for their work at OCU, said Chris Garrett, director for CETL.
“It is always important to learn from others,” he said. “That is the spirit of this university.”
The draw of events such as the faculty awards luncheon is that there are so few opportunities during the years for faculty to come together and recognize each other’s achievements, said Adam Ryburn, associate professor of biology.
“These events provide a great opportunity for faculty to encourage cooperation and disciplinary collaboration,” he said.
The awards presented at the luncheon are intended to further CETL’s goal of mutual learning, as well as show students who are involved in determining some of these awards who they have voted for as OCU’s best and most influential teachers, Garrett said.
The faculty award luncheon and other award ceremonies like it encourage competition among teachers, helping them to strive to be the best at what they do, said Cedric Bond, psychology freshman.
“I see teachers at OCU who really love what they are teaching,” he said.
Awards given were as follows:
Excellence in Teaching for Full-Time Faculty
Dr. Mohammed Daadaoui, political science
Excellence in Teaching for Adjunct Faculty
Cynthia Smith, humanities
Distinguished Achievement in the Scholarship of Discovery
Dr. Linda Cook, nursing
Distinguished Achievement in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Bart Wood, accounting
Undergraduate Student Research for Faculty
Brooke Hessler, English
Distinguished Server Award
Bart Wood
Thirteen faculty members were also recognized for completing the Fellows of Faculty Teaching Academy. They each will receive a $500 dollar stipend, Garrett said.
Steven C. Walker, professor of English at Brigham Young University, served as the keynote speaker. He spoke about what it means to be not only an engaging teacher, but an engaged teacher.
Walker said there is nothing he would rather be than a teacher and there is nothing that pays off more. He said that the point he was trying to get across to faculty members is that no matter how hard teaching may be at times, in the end, it is worth it.
“I wanted them to know that being an engaging teacher is worth the trouble — but so satisfying, and so much fun,” Walker said.
Walker encouraged faculty to always listen, whether it be to the students or even the other faculty.
“We are in the presence of fine teachers,” he said. “If we can share that, we will be even better off.”
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