I am deeply honored and grateful to be a recipient of an OHIO University Professor Award for 2023-24! According to the award’s description:
The University Professor Award recognizes outstanding teaching at the University. Nominations for this award come from the student body, and a student selection committee bestows the honor of University Professor on up to four faculty annually. University Professors then have the freedom to develop and teach a course of their choosing during the following year as a means of enriching the undergraduate curriculum…
Any undergraduate student may nominate any full-time tenure-track, instructional or clinical Ohio University faculty for this award. This includes full-time faculty from any OHIO campus.
Four faculty members (including a friend in History and a colleague in English) were selected as University Professors and honored during an awards ceremony at the end of the academic year:
- Edmond Chang, associate professor of English in the College of Arts and Sciences.
- Marion Lee, associate professor of art history in the College of Fine Arts
- Kevin Uhalde, associate professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences, director of studies for the Honors Tutorial College and director of the Center for Law, Justice and Culture
- Linda Zionkowski, the Samuel and Susan Crowl Professor in English Literature in the College of Arts and Sciences.
While there is no money attached to the award, I will get to teach an undergraduate course of my own design and choosing. I think the course I proposed was an Introduction to Video Game Studies class.
I am really thrilled to earn an award that most faculty only get after years and years of teaching and service to the institution. I am also grateful to the students that nominated me for the honor (I have no idea who it was), to the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment for the chance to interview, and to my chair for their ongoing support. Huzzah!