Alumni Association Teaching Award

The University of Minnesota Morris Alumni Association established the UMMAA Teaching Award to honor individual faculty members for outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. The significant contributions of all Morris faculty are recognized and appreciated, and UMMAA is pleased to celebrate a member of the scholarly community each year.

Expand all

UMMAA Teaching Award Criteria

Purpose

The purpose of this award is to honor individual UMN Morris faculty members for their outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. By calling attention to their education philosophies, objectives, and methods, the University of Minnesota Morris Alumni Association hopes to encourage and enhance teaching effectiveness of other faculty members.

During each academic year one UMN Morris faculty member may be selected to receive the UMM Alumni Association Teaching Award, with the announcement of the award recipient to be made by the first of April. Recipients will receive $2,000. In addition, the recipient's discipline will be given $500 to be used by the recipient.

Eligibility

Tenured and tenure-track (regular) faculty, term (non-regular) faculty, and professional and administrative instructional staff salaried through the University and holding a 66 2/3% time or greater appointment, who have been at the University of Minnesota Morris for at least three years, including the current year, may be nominated for the UMM Alumni Association Teaching Award.

Previous nominees who did not receive the award may be re-nominated. Previous winners of this award may not be re-nominated.

Previous winners of the all-university Horace T. Morse Minnesota Alumni Teaching Award may not be nominated for the University of Minnesota Morris Alumni Association Teaching Award for at least four years after receiving the all-University Horace T. Morse Minnesota Alumni Association Award.

Criteria

Nominees will be evaluated on the basis of documentation of outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. The documentation should provide specific evidence of outstanding performance in one or more—not necessarily all—of the five categories listed below, but the list should not be considered exhaustive or restrictive.

The selection committee will consider any and all kinds of outstanding contributions to undergraduate education so identified and demonstrated by the materials provided. The magnitude of an outstanding contribution in one area may compensate for little or no contribution in other areas.

  • Teaching: direct contact with students in undergraduate courses and programs and in co-curricular activities. Teaching activities include instructing groups of students in classes, seminars, and laboratories; and mentoring or supervising individual activities, such as practicums, internships, field learning experiences, tutorials, and independent study, including MAP supervision of UROP projects. The activities listed are representative, not exhaustive.
  • Research and Artistic Activities: such activities should be documented and discussed in terms of relationships between these activities and the nominee's contributions to undergraduate education, which may itself include students' research or artistic activities of kinds appropriate to the discipline.
  • Advising: for example, activities that aid individual students with course and major selection, career plans, and personal development, especially in ways that go beyond formal curricular advising and instill values of the liberal arts and lifelong learning; and those that provide guidance to student organizations or groups. Documentation should include information about accessibility to students, which ordinarily includes but is not limited to office availability.
  • Academic Program Development: such activities as contribute to the planning, design, or development of curricular or co-curricular improvements in undergraduate education. Contributions in these areas include, for example, new courses or a cluster of courses, general education options in the undergraduate curriculum, and valuable programmatic innovations of any kind.
  • Educational Leadership: extra-programmatic activities of any kind and at any level that constitute leadership and contribute substantially to undergraduate education; for example, presenting papers, holding a position such as national or regional officer or program chair in a professional association activities where students are actively involved.

In all cases, it is not the activity in itself, but the energy, the creativity, and the effectiveness of the activity that constitute outstanding contributions to undergraduate education.

Selection

Nominations are to be initiated by a student or faculty member by forming a nominating committee made up of at least one student and one faculty member. In years when there are no or only one nomination received by the deadline date nominations will be re-opened for a period of no longer than two weeks.

Organization and Presentation of Dossiers

  • A statement of no more than three pages, presenting the case for the nomination. This statement forms the basis of the recommendation and is extremely important for the review process. It should describe the nominee's qualifications with specific reference to the criteria listed (or others being used) whenever appropriate. This statement needs to set out convincingly and in detail the case for the nominee's outstanding contributions to undergraduate education.
  • Personal statement by the candidate of no more than two pages, describing teaching style, methods and objectives, and, as appropriate, examples of the integration of teaching with research, scholarship, or artistic creativity.
  • The candidate's curriculum vitae
  • No more than five supporting letters from students, faculty, administrators, and non-University references, citing specific examples in support of the case. In most cases, at least two letters from individual undergraduate students, past or present, will be expected to be included among the five, along with at lease one from a faculty colleague.
  • A list of courses taught at the University of Minnesota Morris, during the past three years, including semester and approximate enrollment.
  • The numeric summary of the student evaluations of the candidate's teaching during the past three years, along with no more than two pages of student comments.
  • Supporting documentation of no more than five pages, such as the nominee's course syllabi and examinations.

Past Recipients

Barbara Burke

Award Year
2021

University of Minnesota Morris Associate Professor of Communication, Media, and Rhetoric Barbara Burke has earned the 2021 UMN Morris Alumni Association Teaching Award. Burke stands out for her individualized attention and willingness to help students figure out how to do what they want to do in college and beyond.

Profile Picture
Barbara Burke

Rachel Johnson

Award Year
2020

University of Minnesota Morris Assistant Professor of Biology Rachel Johnson has earned the 2020 UMN Morris Alumni Association Teaching Award. Johnson stands out among peers for her commitment to undergraduate teaching and learning. An immunologist, Johnson is a particularly appropriate choice this year.

Profile Picture
Rachel Johnson

Stephen Gross

Award Year
2019

University of Minnesota Morris Archivist and Associate Professor of History Stephen Gross has earned the 2019 UMN Morris Alumni Association Teaching Award. Gross stands out among peers for his commitment to undergraduate teaching and learning.

Profile Picture
Stephen Gross

Tracy Otten

Award Year
2018

Otten is known for her commitment to student learning and collaboration. Her discipline, printmaking, is a metaphor for the liberal arts approach to education.

Profile Picture
Tracy Otten

Rebecca Dean

Award Year
2017

"Rebecca demonstrates a profound commitment to serving students and her field. Her enthusiasm for service learning illustrates her belief in the liberal arts as a force for good and creating these opportunities for her students sets her apart from her peers. This recognition is well deserved."—Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean Bart Finzel 

Profile Picture
Rebecca Dean

Jim Cotter

Award Year
2015

Cotter has, in the words of his nominators, "created and applied a dynamic process that includes making geology and science accessible, getting students involved, and enriching students' learning experiences with independent research." Bart Finzel, vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean, adds that Cotter "stands out for his engaging teaching methods, efforts to make science courses an integral part of the liberal arts education, and sustained encouragement and support of students."

Profile Picture
Jim Cotter

Sheri Breen

Award Year
2014

Sheri Breen, assistant professor of political science, is, in the words of the nominating committee, “a paragon of excellence in teaching, advising, research, academic program development, and educational leadership.” Bart Finzel, vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean, affirms this statement, noting, “Breen’s rigorous teaching methods, her high expectations for both herself and her students, her educational leadership, and her consistent excellence in advising merit her receipt of this award; her recognition is well-deserved.”

Profile Picture
Sheri Breen

Nic McPhee

Award Year
2013

Nic McPhee, professor of computer science, has, in the words of the nomination committee, “served as a beloved teacher and influential mentor for hundreds of students, played a vital role in shaping an outstanding computer science program, [and] created and taught dozens of excellent and enjoyable courses based on principles of liberal arts education…” Bart Finzel, vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean, affirms this statement, noting, “Nic enthusiastically engages students in the continually changing field of computer science, preparing them well for the challenging and ever-changing world after graduation, with tools to be lifelong learners. He is a dynamic and skilled teacher, highly deserving of this recognition.”

Profile Picture
Nic McPhee

Timna Wyckoff

Award Year
2013

Timna Wyckoff, associate professor of biology, was nominated for this award because she is, according to the nominating committee, “an exemplary teacher, advisor, scholar, and community citizen.” Bart Finzel, vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean, expresses a similar sentiment, noting that, “in the twelve years she has been on the faculty at Morris, [Wyckoff] has mentored, guided, and...

Profile Picture
Timna Wyckoff

Jennifer K. Deane

Award Year
2012

Deane was nominated for this award because she is “an exemplary teacher, advisor, scholar, and community citizen.” The nominating committee continues, “Professor Deane takes her teaching very seriously, imaginatively constructing and revising her courses, and she is very good at it—not only in courses aimed at history majors or in her own research fields, but in introductory general education...

Profile Picture
Jennifer Deane

Jennifer Rothchild

Award Year
2011

Rothchild was selected for being “an extraordinary teacher whose rigor, dedication, and passionate commitment to her field has transformed the lives of students and colleagues on this campus.” As stated by Cheryl Contant, vice chancellor for academic affairs and dean, “Jennifer Rothchild is an outstanding teacher, mentor, and adviser who brings the classroom to life with her own personal...

Profile Picture
Jennifer Rothchild

Michelle Page

Award Year
2010

As an undergraduate student, Page was drawn to English. With the encouragement of her language professor, she also completed a French major. While she found her first education classes “sort of interesting,” an out-of-the-classroom experience resulted in an epiphany. “It really came together at the Concordia Language Villages where I first served as an instructor and later as village dean....

Profile Picture
Michelle Page

Bradley Deane

Award Year
2009

Bradley Deane teaches Introduction to Literature, British Literature Survey II, Critical Approaches to Literature, and upper-level courses in literature of the long nineteenth century. He serves as the Honors Program director and teaches the interdisciplinary gateway course for the program.

Profile Picture
Bradley Deane

Julie Pelletier

Award Year
2008

Nominated by colleagues, current students, and alumni, Pelletier is noted for setting high standards for her students and for utilizing a teaching style that puts students at ease and creates an open atmosphere in classroom and office. She’s a storyteller whose stories link academic concepts and material to real-life examples, her own and her students.

Profile Picture
Julie Pelletier

Sarah Buchanan

Award Year
2007

Nominated by colleagues, current students, and alumni, Buchanan is noted for a teaching style that exudes infectious energy and enthusiasm—contagious to both students and colleagues. Tammy Berberi, assistant professor of French, states: "Sarah is a passionate and capable teacher…popular and highly respected.”

Profile Picture
Sarah Buchanan

Janet Schrunk Ericksen

Award Year
2006

Nominated by teaching colleagues, current students, and alumni, Schrunk Ericksen is noted for a teaching style that emphasizes high expectations of each and every student and a willingness to help her students be successful, in and out of the classroom. As colleague Jim Togeas, professor of chemistry, states: “Janet’s courses are not the place for loafers. She is a demanding teacher and a tough...

Profile Picture
Janet Schrunk Ericksen

Pareena Lawrence

Award Year
2005

Mention daily assignments and some college students might groan—not so for students in Pareena Lawrence’s economics courses. Their appreciative thanks for her unique teaching style, which includes daily assignments at the end of each lecture period, and accolades from her colleagues earned Lawrence the honor of receiving the UMMAA Teaching Award.

Profile Picture
Pareena Lawrence

Gwen Rudney

Award Year
2004

Gwen Rudney earned teaching certification, a bachelor of science, a master of science, and a doctorate from the University of California, Riverside. She joined the UMM faculty in 1991. “Morris was the only interview where students were clearly involved and active in the entire interview process,” remembers Rudney. “That was very important to me." Rudney expressed gratitude for receiving the award...

Profile Picture
Gwen Rudney

Pieranna Garavaso

Award Year
2003

A member of the philosophy faculty since 1991, Garavaso earned a bachelor of arts and a master of arts in philosophy from the University of Padova in Italy. She holds a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Profile Picture
Pieranna Garavaso

Nancy Carpenter

Award Year
2002

Carpenter uses a variety of teaching methods in order to engage each student in active learning. She uses helpful analogies such as comparing magnetic anisotropy to preparing for winter in Minnesota, chemical bonding to shopping with a friend, and the mechanisms of nucleophilic substitution to dealing with a less-than-perfect roommate. The fundamental principle that underlies her teaching is her...

Profile Picture
Nancy Carpenter

Paula O'Loughlin

Award Year
2001

Paula O'Loughlin combines her naturally entertaining, caring, exuberant personality with content and techniques that challenge and expand students' experiences.

Profile Picture
Paula O'Loughlin

Jon Anderson

Award Year
2000

Andy Lopez, professor of computer science, and Engin Sungur, associate professor of mathematics, and statistics major Gina Garding '99, state: "...Dr. Jon Anderson is a rare jewel that shines even in an institution that is blessed with an unusually high number of gifted teachers. He helps his students to gain their confidence with his relaxed and informal style and leads them to success with...

Profile Picture
Jon Anderson

Bart Finzel

Award Year
1999

Bart Finzel earned a bachelor of science in economics from Valparaiso University, Indiana, and a master of arts and doctorate in economics from Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He joined the Morris faculty in 1989. The nominations committee states: "Almost immediately upon his arrival on this campus, students were enthused about his classroom performance. This enthusiasm has persisted, and...

Profile Picture
Bart Finzel

Peh Ng

Award Year
1998

As chair of the Functions and Awards Committee, Elizabeth Blake states: "The Committee was impressed by Peh's obvious enthusiasm for teaching and by her extraordinary dedication to students, including such evidence as her informal meetings with them, her home page on the Web, and her participation in extracurricular student activities. It is clear that her courses and research projects are...

Profile Picture
Peh Ng

Christopher Cole

Award Year
1997

A faculty member since 1989, Cole teaches genetics, plant biology, molecular biology, and conservation biology. "I teach out of fascination with and love for the living world and gratitude to the teachers who opened this biology to me. I feel honored by the curiosity and effort students bring as I get to pass this on to them. I go into classes looking forward to the people there and to this...

Profile Picture
Christopher Cole