2009 FCSM EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING
The recipient of the 2009 Excellence in Teaching Award earned a Ph.D. from a fine Atlantic Coast Conference university, and has spent her entire career in educating students at all levels from K through 16. This is the teaching award; but as we know, good scholarship and good teaching go hand-in-hand. This faculty member has been awarded approximately $200,000 in external grants to improve education in the state’s public schools. Since the turn of the century, 16 papers or books or chapters have been published, and 18 were published in the previous century. With 16 pages of professional association presentations, our awardee may have been asked to speak almost as often as Richard Vatz.
Even with such a busy schedule, this person finds time for service to the department by serving on its Promotion and Tenure Committee and Course Development and Maintenance Committee; to the College by having served on the FCSM College Council; and to the greater professional community by having been an officer in statewide and national professional associations.
Our recipient’s excellence in the classroom is supported by any measure you can think of. The student evaluations range from 4.7 to 5 on a 5 point scale, with some classes reporting 100% fives. The peer evaluations are superb and include comments such as: “I was impressed with the mixture of theory with hands-on activities. These activities clearly reinforced the theory.” and “Great teaching along with high standards and expectations.” And the irrefutable source – Rate My Professor – backs up these observations with an overall quality rating of 4.7 along with an easiness rating of only 3. Common among comments at this website are “The best teacher I have ever had.”, “Really cares about how you do. It's a demanding and difficult class”, and “I specifically chose this teacher.” And to validate the impartiality of these ratings was one comment of “Horrible Teacher”, even though I almost missed this comment among all of the other glowing reports.
As one nominator wrote “She has a lasting impact on the student’s learning and teaching. Graduates often keep in contact to share their successes and experiences.” Former students show their respect and appreciation by now volunteering to mentor current students.
We in the Fisher College are not the only ones who recognize this ability, as this person recently was selected by a statewide association as the Outstanding College Professor in Maryland. Join me in offering congratulations to Dr. Honi Bamberger of the Department of Mathematics, the recipient of the 2009 Excellence in Teaching Award. However Honi could not be here today, as she was selected for the Towson Leadership 2010 Council and is attending the first retreat of this important group.
(As presented at the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics Forum on October 30, 2009.)
The Jess and Mildred Fisher
College of Science and Mathematics
Smith Hall, Room 312 (campus map)
Phone: 410-704-2121
Fax: 410-704-2604
E-mail: fcsm@towson.edu
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