ECU professors honored with teaching award

Published Apr 27, 2004 by
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GREENVILLE, NC   (Apr. 27, 2004)   —   Twelve East Carolina University professors were honored Tuesday during the annual teaching awards ceremony that recognizes the top instructors on campus. Five awards were distributed.

Rick Niswander, chairman of the faculty senate, thanked the teachers in the assembled group of about 100. “Each of you has someone to help you see the light go on in your head so that you may help others see the light,” he said. “Teaching is the most visible, most significant and most important reason we are here.”

The Robert L. Jones Award for Outstanding Teaching was presented to Derek Alderman in the Department of Geography. The six winners of the Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching Award are Dr. David Bjorkman, Department of Chemistry; Dr. Ann Bullock, Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education; Dr. Erik Everhart, Department of Psychology; Dr. Dorothea Handron, Department of Family and Community Nursing, School of Nursing; Dr. Claudia Jolls, Department of Biology; and Dr. Mario Rey, Department of Theory, Composition, and Musicology, School of Music.

The University Award for Outstanding Teaching was awarded to Dr. Jeff Jarvis, Chair, Department of Instrumental Music, School of Music, and Dr. John Stevens, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences.

The Max R. Joyner Award for Faculty Service Through Continuing Studies was awarded to Dr. Jennifer Lang, Department of Family and Community Nursing, School of Nursing, and Dr. Christine Shea, Department of Department of Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education.

The Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching was presented to Michael Spurr, a professor in the Department of Mathematics. Spurr, who wins a $7,500 prize, thanked friends colleagues and especially students. “Your hard work, creative ideas and dialogue give us feedback and energy to try harder,” he told the students. “Keep up the good work.”

Winners were nominated by their departments and chosen by committees of the Faculty Senate and the Board of Governors.