Jeff Cochran, professor of stage and production management, was recently named the 2020 Outstanding Faculty Award recipient.
The Outstanding Faculty Award is chosen by a committee comprised of the award recipients from the previous five years, said Lisa Wolfe, professor and endowed chair of Hebrew Bible. Wolfe received the Outstanding Faculty Award in 2018 and is the chair of the committee this year, as each recipient serves as the chair their second year after being selected.
Wolfe said any student or faculty member can nominate a professor by submitting a nomination form sent out in a campus-wide email each fall.
“The criteria for the award includes mastery of the discipline, excellence in teaching, distinguished scholarship and professional performance like research papers, publications, speeches, artwork or stage performances,” Wolfe said. “Once we receive the nominations, we request more information from the top nominees and their deans in order to evaluate them based on these criteria.”
Wolfe said Cochran was chosen because he exemplifies the standards of the criteria.
“We are delighted to honor him this year,” Wolfe said.
Cochran said he is honored to receive the award.
“There are so many great faculty who have won the award before me and to be counted amongst those people is really an honor,” he said.
Cochran also said he was honored to see be recognized for his work.
“I’ve been at OCU for 10 years now,” Cochran said. “I think our program as a whole has been able to do some really great things and build some great relationships in the community. Our alumni are doing fantastic things in the industry. To receive a reward for all the culmination of that work is really humbling.”
Wolfe said the recipient receives an award check and an invitation to deliver a commencement address at graduation ceremony.
The 2020 commencement ceremony has been postponed to an unknown later date due to COVID-19.
“We will be working on an alternate plan for honoring Professor Cochran,” Wolfe said.
Kat Shehan, design and production sophomore, said Cochran is deserving of the award.
“I know how much he does for the School of Theatre,” Shehan said. “He helps bring in all the guest artists and works on all the shows as the production manager. I know how hard he works. He’s super deserving of this award.”
Shehan also said Cochran establishes a welcoming environment in both the classroom and while working on productions.
“I always know I can go to him and ask for help,” Shehan said. “He uses every moment as a learning opportunity. If you make a mistake, he helps you learn from it, figure out how it happened and how to prevent it from happening again.”
Cochran said he found out he received the award by a surprise classroom visit in front of his students.
“I was giving a midterm, and halfway through the class, the provost, deans and selection committee just walked into my classroom,” Cochran said. “They read a proclamation, congratulated me and then left so the students could finish their exam. It was totally a surprise; I had no idea.”
Kelsea Bouma, design and production senior and Cochran’s Student Professional intern, also said Cochran deserves the award.
“He’s really great about adapting his teaching method to how each student learns best,” Bouma said. “Every class I have with him, he doesn’t just give you information for a test. He makes sure you know the information, you understand it and you have a way to apply it to real life. He’s a fantastic mentor.”
Bouma also said Cochran cares about his students beyond their time at OCU.
“He’s not only invested in my time as a student, but also in my whole career,” Bouma said.
Cochran said his favorite part about teaching is working with the students.
“The best part about teaching at OCU is we get to know our students on a really deep, personal level,” Cochran said. “You get to build relationships and, when the students graduate and go out into the industry, you have long-lasting friendships with those folks.”
Wolfe said the Outstanding Faculty Award is a great formal avenue to praise faculty for their work.
“The bar for excellence at OCU is high,” Wolfe said. “We are very fortunate to have many, many outstanding faculty members. I would hope that each year’s Outstanding Faculty Award would inspire students to send a note to their very own outstanding faculty they appreciate.”
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