Rao: Thank professors for hard work

John Remus III

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council
for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) has honored CMU
Associate Professor Gary Gagnon as Michigan’s 2005 Professor of the
Year.

This is the third time in eight years that a CMU professor has been
recognized as Michigan Professor of the Year. Geography Professor Mark
Francek received the award in 2002 and Psychology Professor Gary Dunbar
was named in 1997.

The Carnegie Foundation and CASE accept nominations from all
colleges and universities in the state, and only one professor in each
state wins the award.

CMU is one of only four universities in the state with faculty so
well recognized.

This speaks volumes about CMU professors’ commitment to student
learning and academic excellence.

Teaching has always been a priority at CMU – a fact that becomes
more evident with the many teaching awards that university faculty have
received, including CMU’s awards. Each year, the university honors five
professors with Excellence in Teaching Awards. In 2005, CMU honored
Associate Professor Kathy Benison, Assistant Professor Luz Hurtado,
Associate Professor Mike Kennedy, Instructor Lori Ann Pietrandrea, and
Associate Professor Katherine Rosier for their teaching.

These professors – and many others throughout the CMU community,
including dedicated staff – carry on the tradition of excellence in
learning experiences that draw almost as many students from every
county in the state as Mount Pleasant has in total population.

While the focus of this guest column is on teaching, I would be
remiss if I did not also convey that staff members play an incredibly
important role in CMU’s focused student development process.

We work and learn in an environment where we are surrounded by
uncompromising personal commitment on the part of thousands of
employees at CMU.Perhaps we take that for granted.We
shouldn’t.

Teaching awards serve as reminders to us all that every day at CMU
great professors are helping shape students who will become important
leaders in their fields.

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) also commented on teaching
excellence at CMU. Last month, the HLC team noted meaningful
student/faculty interaction and strong teaching. The team observed that
students are positive about their experiences at CMU, that professors
are actively engaged in students’ learning experiences and that the
university strongly supports undergraduate and graduate students.

As you prepare for final exams, I am pleased to express
appreciation to my colleagues for their efforts in working to shape
your futures. I thank the Carnegie Foundation and CASE for
appropriately recognizing Gary Gagnon and also thank the many students,
staff and professors who are involved in recognizing excellence in
teaching and staff excellence awards.

CMU has done and continues to do many things well–most importantly,
its work with students continues to be marked with excellence.
Despite the many issues that we face in higher education, it’s
comforting that our core mission–effective learning–is in outstanding
shape at CMU.

Monica and I sincerely wish everyone happiness and success this
holiday season.