2/20/98
Contact: Andrew Cinoman, University Professor committee adviser,
(740) 593-1935
ATHENS, Ohio -- A group of Ohio University students will seek suggestions for how to revamp the University Professor awards program -- troubled in recent years by declining voter turnout -- at an open forum at 8 p.m. March 2 in Baker Center 327.
The program, initiated in 1970 as a way for students to recognize outstanding teaching, honors six professors each year. University Professors receive $2,000 each for professional development and are expected to teach two courses on topics of their choosing the following academic year.
Because so few students nominated professors for the award this past fall, no University Professors will be named this year, said Ohio University senior Katherine Strafford, who chairs the student committee that makes final selections. Rather than discontinue the program, the students decided to seek suggestions for how to revitalize it, Strafford said. The group discussed other methods of determining the nominees, but believes it is important to continue having students make the nominations."There are other teaching awards, but there aren't others that come directly from the students," Strafford said.
Under the selection process, students voted in the fall for professors they view as outstanding teachers. In the past, nominating forms were included with other required paperwork. But with more processes being handled via computer, there was no uniform way to get the forms out. As a result, the student nominations on which the list of finalists were based declined. Once the finalists were determined, the committee interviewed each of them, observed them in the classroom and voted for the six they believe best exemplify superior teaching.
Patricia Richard, associate provost for undergraduate studies and dean of University College, said the University Professor program gives students a voice in determining what constitutes good teaching and also broadens the curriculum by allowing the selected professors to choose a unique focus for courses the following year.
"The University Professor program presents an opportunity for undergraduates to recognize those faculty they find outstanding and to infuse the curriculum with innovative courses taught by those faculty," Richard said. "The award differs from the majority of teaching awards at this and other universities in that it is completely student-driven."
Eddith Dashiell, one of this year's University Professors, is in her sixth year as a journalism professor at Ohio University.
"It was the Academy Award of my teaching career," Dashiell said of the University Professor award. "To be able to get an award that I didn't campaign for, that I didn't ask for, that I didn't beg for, and that came from the students, that sort of justified my existence. The fact that it was student-based was key for me."
Dashiell is teaching her University Professor course, Media Coverage of First Ladies, this quarter and next, and it appears to be popular with students. The telephone registration process for next quarter opened on a Friday and by the next Monday, students were calling to be placed on a waiting list because the class was full.
Strafford said University Professor courses tend to be unique, covering topics that the professors find interesting on both a professional and personal level. She pointed to a course titled the Angler as Biologist by fisherman and Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Matthew White as one example.
Richard said the award program's future rests with students. "Students need to come together to design effective ways to nominate faculty for the award," she said. "If such means are not created and implemented, the award will cease to be or will be changed."