June 5, 2015
Chemistry Team receives 2015 Distinguished Teaching Award for Innovation with Technology
A team of four Chemistry faculty members was awarded the 2015 Distinguished Teaching Award for Innovation with Technology. Lecturers Jasmine Bryant and Colleen Craig and Assistant Professors AJ Boydston and Stefan Stoll were jointly recognized for their innovative use of technology in our instructional program. They will be honored with other 2015 Awards of Excellence recipients at a public ceremony on Thursday, June 11, at 3:30 pm in Meany Hall.
While the team members have each worked to improve student learning through technology in their individual courses, the overall impact has been broad. Their courses cover the range in our curriculum, from large undergraduate lecture courses in introductory general chemistry (Bryant, Craig) and organic chemistry (Boydston, Bryant) up to courses for our senior majors and graduate students (Stoll). Within Chemistry, the team serves as a resource for our faculty, piloting and vetting new technologies, advising our faculty on how best to adopt these technologies, generating a repository of modules, video mini-lectures, and tutorials shared among faculty, and making major contributions to curricular redesign. They have lowered the barrier for other faculty to make changes in their teaching, facilitating peer learning among colleagues in Chemistry as well as in other departments across campus. The efforts of all four are appreciated by the thousands of students they teach each year, who consistently reward their efforts with outstanding student course evaluation ratings.
Team members have been recognized for their experience and expertise in teaching at the local and national level. Bryant and Craig have participated in the Cottrell Scholars Collaborative National Teaching Assistant Workshop as well as a variety of teaching and learning initiatives at the UW, and Bryant received the 2013 “Most Engaging Lecturer” Award from the UW Panhellenic Association & Interfraternity Council. The Research Corporation for Science Advancement has honored Boydston (2014) and Stoll (2015) with the Cottrell Scholar Award, which recognizes 10-15 innovative early career teacher-scholars in chemistry, physics and astronomy at U.S. institutions.
The University of Washington established the Distinguished Teaching Award in 1970 and five are given annually to faculty members from the Seattle campus. Recipients are chosen based on a variety of criteria, including mastery of the subject matter; enthusiasm and innovation in the teaching and learning process and in course and curriculum design; to inspire, guide, and mentor students through independent and creative thinking; and mentoring other faculty and teaching assistants to help enrich the scholarship of teaching and learning. Faculty members in Seattle who receive the Distinguished Teaching Awards are inducted into the UW Teaching Academy, where they will be able to participate in a variety of Academy-sponsored projects and events to further excellence in the teaching and learning process at the UW.
Boydston, Bryant, Craig, and Stoll will be honored with the other 2015 Awards of Excellence recipients at a public ceremony on Thursday, June 11, at 3:30 pm in Meany Hall. For more information about the 2015 Awards of Excellence, which honor UW achievements in teaching, mentoring, public service, and staff support, please visit the Awards of Excellence website.