January 17, 2012 - 9:06pm
Provost Hanlon lauds teaching awards in honoring 'U' faculty
BY ERIN FORSYTHE
Professors at the University are receiving recognition for their teaching performance through several elite prizes this year.
The Provost’s Teaching Innovation Prize recognizes up to five tenured clinical, instructional or lecturing faculty members who display outstanding achievement, knowledge and skills in their discipline, according to the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching website.
All University faculty members, students, chairs, directors and deans are eligible to nominate recipients for the annual prize, according to the site. Nominations for this year’s award are due on Feb. 1, and will be reviewed by a committee composed of Arthur F. Thurnau professors and staff from the Office of the Provost, the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching and the University Library, all of which are departmental sponsors of the award. Candidates are chosen based upon their own individual innovations to improve student learning.
Winners of the award receive $5,000 to finance projects that spur improvements and innovation in classroom learning. Recipients will be asked to share their innovative plans and methods with the University community in development sessions and other campus events.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, University Provost Philip Hanlon said the award was created to recognize exceptional faculty and ensure that they are able to fund research on teaching methods.
The Office of the Provost also honors distinguished faculty members through the Arthur F. Thurnau Professorships. For this award, five to seven faculty members are selected based on their excellence in teaching and contributions to the undergraduate education. The annual honor awards recipients a $20,000 grant to allow for the purchase of supplies and activities that will enable them to further enhance their teaching.
Hanlon said the award reflects faculty members’ standing in the academic community.
“If someone gets a named Professorship, that’s an indication of their level of achievement and I think that one of the things that’s really important, and this isn’t surprising, is that how much your peers value the award you get,” Hanlon said.
Hanlon also drew on the importance of the University’s undergraduate educators, noting that because of their potential to reach a larger array of students in various concentrations, they have the opportunity to inspire and impact a large portion of the University.
“I believe that at Michigan, our best faculty are involved in undergraduate teaching, and want to be involved,” Hanlon said. “We’re not a place where anyone has a zero teaching level, we just don’t do that.”
Hanlon added that he teaches freshman calculus classes because he believes in the importance of the role of professors in undergraduate education.
“I really believe it’s a really important part of our mission as a University, a really important part of a faculty role,” Hanlon said. “And I believe that I’m reflecting the ethos on campus.”
Hanlon also noted that two of the three University faculty members thatwere recently selected for the MacArthur “Genius” Awards were undergraduate instructors.
Hanlon said undergraduates have a unique opportunity to learn from award-winning professors here at the University.
“They have perspectives that are really deep, really profound,” Hanlon Said. “And as an undergraduate you have a real opportunity to hear the way that they think about the subject that they’re an expert on.”
