The University Professor program encourages outstanding teaching at the university while benefiting students and faculty alike.
Students bestow the honor of University Professor on five members yearly, after a selection process that begins with nominations from the student body. Faculty so honored then have the freedom to develop and teach two courses of their own choosing during the following year as a means of enriching the undergraduate curriculum. Since its founding in 1970, the University Professor program has recognized over two hundred professors for their teaching excellence.
History of the Award
In 1967 a few enterprising Ohio University students came up with the idea of rating the professors on campus. From the rating process, they chose the top ten professors. That year they sent out a formal letter to the professors on their list and it's from their initiative that the University Professor award took shape. Two years later a new group of students organized the rankings into a booklet.
Those activities caught the attention of the University community. After witnessing the importance students placed in recognizing professors for their teaching, a few administrators took the students' idea and formalized it into the University Professor Award. The actual award was originally sketched out by Assistant Vice-president for Academic Affairs Jim Perotti and a faculty member named Harvey Stedman in 1970. From there the award was housed in the Vice-president of Academic Affairs office.
In the first year the students voted for their favorite professors. The finalists were then each interviewed by a committee comprised of only students who went on to select the first class of University Professors: James Bruning, Richard Doolen, and Edgar Whan.
The award's strength has always been its reflection of student perspectives on teaching and learning. While awards for teaching often emanate from professional associations, colleges and universities, the meaningfulness of this award comes from the role of students in deciding it. Recipient Bruning noted when interviewed about the award: "The award has always meant a lot to me, but it means very much to me today. It means a lot because it is a more personal award than a professional award. This is because it comes from an outside point of view, whereas most awards comes from our peers."
The University Professor program provides a unique opportunity for undergraduate students to directly influence the university curriculum and to reward outstanding faculty members for their excellence as teachers.
Ohio University is proud of its pioneering approach to recognizing and rewarding excellence in teaching. Newcomers to the university can look forward to joining a tradition that honors both professors and students for their active participation in the continuing dialogue about the purpose, goals and structure of education.
