Provost's Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Lecturer Awardees

Steven Bengal

Associated Faculty/Lecturer, Department of Psychology
College of Arts and Sciences

Lijuan Bi

Lecturer, Department of Mathematics
The Ohio State University at Newark
College of Arts and Sciences

Ted Clark

Associated Faculty, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
College of Arts and Sciences

Molly Downing

Assistant Professor of Practice, Division of Pharmacy Education and Innovation
College of Pharmacy

Jenny Sheldon

Assistant Professor of Teaching Practice, Department of Mathematics College of Arts and Sciences

Patrick J. Sours

Senior Lecturer, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geodetic Engineering College of Engineering
Department of Food, Agricultural and Biological Engineering
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

Michelle Everson
Emma Kindall
Lynette Martin
Rosalee K. Meyer
Steven Salopek
Alexandra Ruiz Suer

Elena Foulis

Senior Lecturer
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
College of Arts and Sciences

Elena Foulis is an active member of The Ohio State University's community with an inspiring commitment to civic outreach and engagement. A faculty member in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese since 2008, she has developed partnerships with numerous organizations throughout central Ohio, in particular those serving members of the Latina/o community. Her work as a service-learning teacher and coordinator has been instrumental in connecting students with a variety of community partners, and was celebrated by Ohio State’s Office of Diversity and Inclusion in 2014 and the Ohio Hispanic Coalition in 2018.

Foulis has proven herself a true innovator as a lecturer in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. She routinely teaches Spanish 5689S, a Spanish language service-learning course designed to expose students to Ohio’s diverse and growing Latina/o communities. She has led the department in incorporating digital technologies into the classroom, playing a key role in developing digital storytelling as a pedagogical tool and serving as a facilitator in the Digital Storytelling Project sponsored by the Digital Union and University Libraries.

In collaboration with the OCIO’s Affordable Learning Exchange project, Foulis developed an eBook on Latina/o stories across Ohio and is currently developing a second book to be used in lower-division Spanish courses. These efforts will save students thousands of dollars in book costs. Elena also directs the Ohio Habla podcast series that delivers relevant content about the Latina/o community in Ohio to listeners around the world.

Foulis serves as member of the President and Provost Council on Women, and as an executive board member for ACE Ohio, an organization that works to advance women in higher education. 

Galit Golan

Lecturer
Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures
College of Arts and Sciences

Galit Golan is a veteran educator with a remarkable talent for building connections with her students. She strongly believes in practicing continuous improvement in the classroom and adapting her teaching style on a daily basis through professional development, insights from co-teachers and feedback from students.

Golan’s teaching philosophy stresses personalized-approaches to education. She is known to tell her students that “we are in this together.” As one of her Hebrew 2 students recalls, “Galit said to us, ‘If you are getting something wrong and don't understand, you need to ask. Just stop class, come see me, anything you need, because when you don't know something it means I didn't do my job well enough….

My job is to teach in any way that you can understand, and if you don't understand one way, I'll teach it to you in another, because that is my job.’” During her time at Ohio State, Golan has earned a reputation for going above and beyond with her students, offering extended office hours and making use of technology such as Skype to stay connected.

Golan takes great pride in inspiring a passion for the Hebrew language and Israeli culture in her students, preparing them to be lifelong learners and instilling in them the necessary skills for independent language learning.

She received her master’s degree in Jewish education from Hebrew College in Boston, her teaching degree from Bar Ilan University in Israel and a Bachelor of Art in Hebrew literature and Jewish history from Israel’s Tel Aviv University.

Christine Griffin

Clinical Instructor
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
College of Medicine

Christine Griffin brings to the classroom expertise in both clinical practice and occupational therapy research. A thoughtful and thorough educator, her approach coaxes students out of their comfort zones, ensuring they have the confidence necessary to succeed in real-world occupational therapy settings.

Griffin’s passion for occupational therapy and patient care shines through in the classroom, making for a warm and welcoming environment. She goes to great lengths to provide her students with interactive and wholly unique educational experiences. In the past, she has created opportunities for students to practice evaluations, assessments and treatment and discharge planning by recruiting actual patients who have suffered strokes to volunteer in her class over a six-week period. Her expectations are established on day one and revisited each week to help students remain engaged and on track throughout the entirety of the semester.

“I have not come across another professor that puts so much effort into her students academically, professionally or personally as professor Griffin,” says one student. “She connects well with her students, earns their respect, pushes them the right amount and is as well equipped for her job as she is compassionate.”

In 2016, Griffin received the Faculty Teaching Award for Adjunct and Clinical Instructor from the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. She was a recipient of the HITE Outstanding Contributions to Occupational Therapy Award and the Ohio Occupational Therapy Association Model Practice in Rehabilitation Award in 2014 and 2011 respectively.

Griffin earned her Bachelor of Science degrees in biology and pre-occupational therapy from Capital University and her Master of Science in occupational therapy from the University of Indianapolis. She is currently pursuing a PhD at Ohio State.

Satyanarayana Seetharaman

Lecturer
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
College of Engineering

Satya Seetharaman brings an engineer’s approach to education: he builds a sturdy base of knowledge and then carefully scaffolds new ideas until, almost unbelievably, a grand structure is in place. An average lesson from Seetharaman is peppered with jokes about the topics at hand, along with a series of challenging questions, all of which are designed to keep his class excited and engaged.

An integral member of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Seetharaman frequently teaches some of the department’s most challenging courses. Despite this — or perhaps because of it — he routinely receives glowing feedback from his students and the highest evaluation scores of any instructor, tenured or otherwise, in the entire department.

“I have never had a professor who has inspired me to learn and understand material for a class like I did in Professor Seetharaman's class,” writes one student. “He has pushed me to go above and beyond when it comes to my own education, yet guides me when I have trouble … He embodies qualities that every professor should have, and then he goes above and beyond that.”

Other students are similarly effusive about Seetharaman’s talents, sharing: “By far the best professor I've ever had;” “In Mechanical Engineering, Satya is the best lecturer by a notable margin;” "Always a pleasure being in Dr. Seetharaman's class;” and, “Satya is a legend. He is a tough teacher but ultimately teaches the material better than any other professor I have ever had.”

In addition to being an outstanding teacher, Seetharaman has enriched the mechanical engineering curriculum by developing two new courses, including a hands-on experimental course designed especially for undergrads.

Thomas S. Stewart

Lecturer
Department of Agricultural Communication, Education, and Leadership
College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

Tom Stewart had two professional goals in life: to succeed in broadcasting and to become a lecturer in human and community resource development at his alma mater, The Ohio State University. After accomplishing the first, he took on the second.

Stewart is known among his students for his enthusiasm for the subject material, his love of learning and his passion for teaching. A project from his course Campaign Design and Management is illustrative of his larger approach to engaging students. Stewart will arrange for student teams to meet with real clients and to develop a campaign for their organization. This sort of hands-on activity lights imaginations and provides students an invaluable glimpse at their future careers.

Stewart’s commitment to positioning Buckeyes for success extends beyond innovative assignments. Recognizing a gap in undergraduate preparation, he proposed and designed a new course to connect students with his network of community partners. In recognition of his many contributions to the department, Stewart was awarded the North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture Educator Award.

Prior to his time as a lecturer at Ohio State, Stewart was vice president of WBNS Radio and elected to the Board of Directors of the company. In his role as radio station manager, he was the exclusive radio voice for the station’s coverage of Ohio State football and basketball. In 1992, Stewart took a position as general manager of WBNS-TV, serving as a senior executive there until his retirement in 2001. It is this circuitous path to the classroom that has helped make Stewart such an effective and memorable educator.

Stewart is a community leader, philanthropist and native Ohioan. He attended Upper Arlington High School and graduated from The Ohio State University with degrees in communication and education.

Sinead M. Yarberry

Instructor of Clinical Practice
College of Nursing

Sinead M. Yarberry developed her love of teaching during graduate school at The Ohio State University, where she worked as a graduate teaching associate for five quarters.

Now an instructor of clinical practice, Yarberry maintains a warm, lively classroom where opportunities for interactive learning abound. She encourages deep inquiry into course content and shows a genuine love for helping students along on their path toward becoming medical professionals. During her time as an instructor, she has earned a reputation as a teacher quick to connect with students struggling in the lab in a way that builds confidence and understanding. Yarberry recognizes the importance of clear communication and goes out of her way to keep channels open. She makes time for meeting both in her office and remotely — including one notable time from the middle of a family vacation. In the classroom, she is known to share anecdotes that build rapport and deepen the learning experience. “She is not only a great lecturer,” said one student, “she is organized, flexible reasonable, transparent and positive without being saccharine. Her genuine love for teaching and students is evident.”

Yarberry has advocated for her students outside of the classroom as wel l— proposing changes to the course curriculum that allow for one-on-one preceptorships experience instead of the traditional 8:1 student-faculty ratio.

Yarberry teaches clinically at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and provides guest lectures on oncology. She earned her Bachelor of Science in nursing from Ohio State in June 2007. She worked on the hematology/oncology unit at the James Cancer Hospital caring for patients with leukemia, lymphoma and multiple myeloma before becoming a full-time clinical faculty member in Summer 2011. She earned her graduate interdisciplinary specialization in college and university teaching along with her master’s degree in nursing in March 2011.

Robert William Ahern

Senior Lecturer
College of Social Work

Robert William Ahern is among the College of Social Work’s most sought-after lecturers and mentors. A skilled teacher and clinician, Ahern goes above and beyond to make himself available for his students, regularly providing one-on-one career guidance and course suggestions. His dedication to students is reflected in exemplary evaluation scores and glowing testimonials declaring him “amazing," "the best professor," "an excellent instructor" and "phenomenal." Ahern’s dedication to teaching has made him a four-time winner of the college’s “Community Lecturer of the Year Award.”

Ahern employs a variety of strategies to engage students in the learning process, including role plays, storytelling, Tai Chi, case studies, skill demonstrations of therapeutic techniques or interventions and the Socratic method to develop critical thinking. His classes utilize movie clips, podcasts and a variety of other media to better connect with students with different learning styles and interests. Through these varied approaches, Ahern helps his students hone self-awareness of the internal processes critical to effective therapeutic engagement with clients.

Ahern earned his BA at Florida State University, his MDiv from Trinity Lutheran Seminary and his MSW and PhD at The Ohio State University. He primarily teaches clinical practice courses taken by master's level students including Engaging and Entering the Profession, Crisis Intervention and Trauma Treatment, Strengths-Based Clinical Social Work with Individual Adults and Motivational Interviewing. He also teaches several 5000-level courses that attract both undergraduate and graduate students, including Loss and Grief: A Social Work Practice Perspective and Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Approaches to Assessment and Treatment.

Salome Fouts

Senior Lecturer and Director of African Languages
Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures
College of Arts and Sciences

Salome Fouts is a dedicated educator, a tireless advocate for Ohio State’s African languages programs and a valued leader within the Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures. She has a true passion for students and is known for encouraging eager minds in and outside of the classroom to reflect on their place as citizens in both a global and local sense. Her ability to spark curiosity in languages and cultures is unparalleled.

Fouts has vastly expanded student understanding of, and appreciation for, African culture at Ohio State. She teaches a wide range of Swahili classes from the 1101 level up through to the 3000 level, inspiring students with cultural knowledge and pushing them toward higher levels of language competence. She has also taught African Literature and Contemporary Black Drama in the Department of African American and African Studies. Fouts’s interest in Uganda led her to serve as resident director for the Global May Uganda study abroad program. During the program, she empowered students to activate cultural knowledge obtained in the classroom and positioned participants for greater levels of language achievement through hands-on interactions in the field.

Fouts obtained her BA from the College of Wooster, her MA at Miami University (Ohio), and her PhD from The Ohio State University. Her research interests include exploring the use of indigenous African oral performance forms in the active language classroom, Swahili culture and performances and the position of Swahiliin Uganda. In addition to her work at the university, Fouts is engaged in improving access to quality educational resources in various Ugandan elementary schools within her village community of Bujuuko.

Meghan Burke Hattaway

Senior Lecturer
Department of English
College of Arts and Sciences

Meghan Burke Hattaway has been described by her students as “everything you want in a college English professor.” Practiced, compelling and empathetic, she pushes students beyond grammar and paragraph structure to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to analyze arguments and articulate well-reasoned opinions.

Hattaway teaches first- and second-year composition classes, including special sections on disability studies and documentary film. She has also taught Introduction to Disability Studies, British Literature 1800-Present, Women in Literature, Special Topics in Film and Literature (“Jane Austen in Hollywood”) and Introduction to Fiction. In these courses, she navigates controversial issues around disability, race and gender in ways that invite civil discussion and encourage reflection. Her students hone abilities inclusive of assembling and presenting research materials, public speaking, rhetorical skills, group collaboration and the synthesis of creative and critical practice.

Hattaway received her PhD in 19th-century British literature from The Ohio State University and her MA from Florida State University. She specializes in 19th-century British literature, women’s writing and disability studies. Her recent publications include essays in Victorian Literature and Culture, European Romantic Review and Eighteenth-Century Fiction, among others. She was also co-editor of a December 2011 special issue of the journal Prose Studies. Hattaway served as co-chair of the Nineteenth Annual British Women Writers Conference in 2011 and has also presented papers at a number of national conferences.

Lisa Juckett

Instructor-Practice
School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences

Amy C. Barnes

Senior Lecturer
Department of Educational Studies

Amy C. Barnes does not just teach about leadership — she exemplifies it. Her expertise in leadership development serves her students inside the classroom and out. Students have called her a trailblazer and a passionate educator, and they give her consistently positive evaluations. Ohio State applicants to the department’s higher education and student affairs master’s program frequently mention Barnes as a mentor and an instructor who has influenced their chosen career paths. In addition to mentoring students, Barnes has also supervised and mentored 56 adjunct lecturers.

Barnes takes an active role in developing course materials, co-authoring two texts on leadership and developing the materials now used in the Sophomore Transformational Experience Program. Her contributions extend beyond the department and the college as well, as she has built partnerships with the Department of Educational Studies and the Office of Student Life. As a result, students can now take leadership and service-learning courses that are offered in conjunction with Student Life. She has also developed a leadership course in conjunction with Fisher College of Business. Ohio State students can now also declare a minor in leadership, which Barnes played an active role in launching.

A former student who is now a student affairs professional says Barnes is setting “the standard of modern collegiate leadership development” and is “advancing the socially responsible leadership capacities of both undergraduate and graduate students at Ohio State.”

Barnes holds an EdD in educational policy, planning and leadership from the College of William and Mary. Her areas of expertise include leadership development of college students, strengths-based leadership, positive psychology, service-learning, cultural competency and leadership development.

Hope C. Dawson

Senior Lecturer
Department of Linguistics

Hope C. Dawson is among her department’s most effective teachers, earning exceptionally high evaluation scores even in her large, introductory classes. Class size does not prevent Dawson from connecting with her students, who have described her as genuine, “the real deal” and the very definition of a great teacher.

Dawson takes an active role in the success of the department’s graduate teaching assistants, visiting each GTA’s classroom every semester to observe and provide feedback. Under her coordination, three of the department’s GTAs have won the university-wide Graduate Associate Teaching Award. She regularly participates in professional development to advance her own teaching and is regarded in the department as a pedagogical expert.

Outside the classroom, Dawson has taken over as chief editor of the department’s leading textbook, Language Files. Her breadth and depth of knowledge and her extensive editorial experience have helped the book maintain its status as a preeminent linguistics text, even as more linguistic texts come on the market.

Dawson also plays an important role in curriculum development as a member of the chair’s planning team. Her assessment of which GTAs to assign to which classes is particularly insightful because of her deep understanding of their strengths. During the semester conversion process, Dawson’s pedagogical insight proved invaluable as she led the department in course revision.

Dawson holds a PhD in Linguistics from The Ohio State University. Her research interests include historical linguistics with a focus on Indo-European linguistics and Sanskrit.

Kim M. Lopez

Lecturer
Department of Sociology

Kim M. Lopez is known for her ability to create energy and excitement in her classes. Once students have experienced her engaging style and interesting activities, they come back for more, intentionally seeking out Lopez’s sections. Students even choose her courses when they are on a topic unrelated to their interests, because they know she will create a valuable learning experience. Lopez is often asked to write letters of recommendation; she’s written 87 so far. She frequently receives thank you notes from students who are grateful for her gift for teaching.

Lopez has taken on courses with notoriously low enrollment and transformed them into classes taught every semester thanks to student word-of-mouth. She is adept at linking in-class learning with real-world experiences by leveraging community resources such as the coroner’s office, the Columbus Public Health Department, the Hilltop YMCA and Lifeline of Ohio.

Outside the classroom, Lopez is a relationship-builder, particularly between Ohio State and the Columbus community. In addition to taking her students into the field, she brings local experts into the classroom to speak on relevant topics and to conduct workshops. It’s a time-intensive approach that proves rewarding and enriching for her students.

Lopez is also a champion for the well-being of all Ohio State students. She frequently visits residence halls to give talks on suicide prevention, and she has been recognized by the Office of Disability Services for promoting the academic success of student with disabilities.

Lopez holds an MA in clinical psychology from John F. Kennedy University. Her areas of expertise include social psychology, child and family and thanatology.

Ryan J. McPherson

Lecturer
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

In Ryan J. McPherson’s talented hands, a once-unpopular course has been revolutionized. Students rate the class significantly higher under McPherson’s management for his ability to run the class efficiently, deliver real-world examples that improve comprehension and develop a rapport with students that encourages engagement. Students speak about McPherson in superlative terms, calling him the greatest and the best. They call his lectures fun — a word students did not use to describe this class in the past.

Faculty within and outside the department describe McPherson as refreshing, and his efforts in the classroom go above and beyond. He draws upon his own school experiences, allowing him to build stronger connections and empathy with his students. To improve engagement outside the classroom, he makes recordings of his lectures available online for students to review at their own pace, and he provides copious resources like old exams and problem sets with answers.

For his exceptional commitment to teaching excellence, McPherson has been appointed course supervisor for all 2000-level classes in the department. He also served on a committee to reorganize two major-entry courses into three new ones, leading the development of a course on circuits that has proven highly successful. McPherson has also served on the Undergraduate Studies Committee and the Laboratory Safety Committee, where he has made valuable contributions.

Ryan McPherson holds a PhD in electrical engineering from Auburn University. His areas of expertise include cleanroom and fabrication, and analog and digital electronics design.

Noel M. Paul

Assistant Professor, associated faculty appointment
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Even among his largest sections, Noel M. Paul consistently earns high ratings on his student evaluations for his ability to inspire students and build their enthusiasm for chemistry. He engages students in real-world research in second-year organic chemistry labs, and has a forthcoming paper on the results discovered in one of his classes.

Paul is committed to the continuous improvement of his courses and the student lab experience. He has played a key role in transforming the organic chemistry lab into a paperless environment—an advancement that has resulted in faster and more accurate feedback on student calculations and a reduction in grading loads for teaching assistants.

Along with colleagues, Paul has continued to develop the department’s digital lab report system and is incorporating new software programs into courses to ensure consistency and fairness across all sections. He has also instituted the use of tablets in the lab to improve efficiency and feedback to students. Paul also takes an active role in improving the lab materials available to students, and has published two organic chemistry laboratory manuals with a colleague. Students often praise the course materials and Paul’s enthusiasm for chemistry and ability to explain difficult concepts.

Paul’s support for undergraduate student research makes him an asset to the department and its students. He is an effective mentor, evidenced by his students’ productivity; under Paul’s guidance, several have been invited to make presentations on their work.

Paul holds a PhD in organic chemistry from The Ohio State University. His area of specialization is laboratory teaching.

Alice M. Teall

Instructor of Practice
College of Nursing

Christopher Callam

College of Arts and Sciences

Vondolee Delgado-Nixon

College of Optometry

What better way to teach optometry than through a visual teaching technique? Vondolee Delgado-Nixon developed an active technique that allows her students to “see” the learning objectives of each new topic by having them draw the dialogues and apply what they have learned to visualize the process. As a result, many of her students score higher than the national average for their first time taking the National Board of Optometry examinations. As one nominator wrote, “The performance on national boards is a factor that all applicants look at, and Ohio State is nationally known for its exceptional performance. Certainly Dr. Delgado-Nixon’s excellence in teaching is a major factor.”

Delgado-Nixon, who has been a lecturer in the college since 2001, now teaches the entire first year pathophysiology curriculum and also developed and serves as the course instructor for two online courses. Common feedback from her students highlights how organized her course material is and how enthusiastic and accessible she is as a teacher. 

Delgado-Nixon also is dedicated to improving the diversity of the college. She developed Improving Diversity in Optometric Careers, an intensive three-day residential program that introduces optometry to ethnically underrepresented minorities. She also advises the college’s student chapter of the National Optometric Association, which is dedicated to promoting recruitment of minority students into optometry. She earned her bachelor’s from Cornell College and her PhD from The Ohio State University. 

Jennifer Patton

Department of English

Jennifer Patton has made a career of professional writing — building experience as a journalist and corporate copywriter and bringing that with her as a senior lecturer in the Department of English. Patton, who received her MFA from Ohio State in 2012, teaches writing-intensive courses, and her assignments aim to build her students’ portfolios and, over the course of a semester, examine numerous fields, including grant writing. According to one nominator, “Jenny teaches students to be meticulous copyeditors and grammar-sticklers; she coaches them to produce professional documents ranging from social media posts and wikiHow instructions to grant proposals, job application letters and interviews.” 

Her teaching effectiveness is reflected in her consistently high SEI marks, and she received the 2013 Favorite Teacher Award from the Ohio State Athletic Association. Patton adapts her teaching skills to best accommodate the way her students learn. She provides gentle but constructive criticism to her students and works with them outside the classroom.

Also active in the department, Patton has facilitated discussions in the Buckeye Book Community and contributes to the professional writing minor. She has served two consecutive terms as associated faculty representative on the Executive Committee and is an Ohio State Writers’ Guild executive board member. She has volunteered to lead Buckeye Book discussion groups every year since 2010, and she currently volunteers with OhioReads and the Eli Pinney School Library.

Kristie Sigler

School of Communication

Lisa Cravens-Brown

Department of Psychology

According to one nominator, Lisa Cravens-Brown should be known as the “student whisperer.” She is able to connect with honors pupils and the unmotivated alike and gets them engaged by selecting course materials that are highly relevant to their daily lives. In 2012, Cravens-Brown was named to Princeton Review’s list of the 300 best professors in the United States — most of whom were distinguished tenure-track professors.

She has instructed 1,720 students over the past three years and her student evaluations are always sterling; in the spring of 2012, Cravens-Brown received a top 5.0 score on all 47 student evaluations of her Psychology of Human Sexuality course.

“Clearly she is able to inspire students and make a difference in their lives,” a nominator wrote.

Cravens-Brown is a faculty honors advisor for the Department of Psychology and recently became program director for the department’s data analysis and research methods courses, getting the nod because of her strong teaching background. 

With an expertise in sexuality studies, Cravens-Brown helped develop the university’s major and minor programs in that area and serves on the programs’ oversight and awards committees. All of her efforts are directed at making the undergraduate experience more meaningful and to inspire students to embrace lifelong learning.

“Throughout my four years on campus, I have never heard a student mention Lisa without eight others chiming in on how much they love her and her courses,” a student nominator wrote. “I do not believe this can be attributed to anything other than Lisa’s dedication to her students and genuine concern for each and every one.”

She earned her PhD from The Ohio State University.

Richard Daley

Moritz College of Law

Richard Daley admits that after more than 30 years practicing real estate development law, he is more lawyer than professor. But by focusing on teaching his students the practical over the theoretical, he is adamant that they should be prepared to practice law immediately upon graduation.

Students flock to his three courses: Real Estate Development, Commercial Leasing and Drafting Business Contracts. The latter was so popular that Daley agreed to increase enrollment by 50 percent — and increase his workload — in order to accommodate the interest.

“Although a lot of work and time for only two credit hours, I would take this class again,” wrote a student. “It was one of the most valuable courses in all of my academic career.”

Voted on by students, Daley was named the Morgan E. Shipman Outstanding Professor of the Year for the graduating class of 2013, the first lecturer to receive the honor.

“When the award was announced to an auditorium full of students, there was a shout of delight and fists raised in the air before students gave him a standing ovation,” a nominator wrote.

Daley also serves as the founding advisor for the student-run Real Estate Law Association at Ohio State, his alma mater. The organization has maintained strong membership and regularly draws exceptional speakers to talk to students.

Daley spent 12 years in private practice and 13 years with The Pizzuti Companies as executive vice president and general counsel. He currently runs his own consulting business for private developers and corporate real estate departments.

Anthony Shoup

Department of Physics
The Ohio State University at Lima

At Ohio State Lima, Anthony Shoup represents the entirety of the astronomy and engineering faculty, and that is in addition to his full courseload as a senior lecturer in physics. 

He single-handedly brought the first-year engineering program to the campus and was instrumental in securing a $35,000 grant to refurbish the lab and obtain equipment to teach the courses. Ohio State Lima will add a third engineering section for the 2014-15 academic year because of Shoup’s foundational efforts.

Shoup is considered “indispensable” by one nominator and an exceptional teacher on a campus known for outstanding instruction (10 Ohio State Lima faculty have received the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching). 

With many first-generation college students in his classes, Shoup relates his own story of being the first in his family to graduate. And he uses his student evaluations to continually improve his teaching methods. The first astronomy course he taught, he received poor scores for having too much math and math that was too difficult to comprehend. He still uses equations in his teaching, but he doesn’t penalize students who struggle with math, focusing on the benefits of exposing them to the information.

Shoup wanted to give students a full astronomy experience at Lima. He worked to get a telescope donated to the campus, and he built the observation dome, installed the telescope and wrote the control software, which allows students to operate the device and take pictures from their home computers.

Fisher College of Business

With a flair for the creative, Marc Ankerman’s background in mass communication, radio, TV and film coupled with degrees in instructional design and development makes his ideas and solutions come to life. He has been in the HR training and education field for more than 21 years and currently teaches a variety of professional development courses to MBA students.

Known as Fisher’s “communications specialist and guru,” Ankerman has taken the general intent of the college to teach communications and turned this into a set of courses and curriculum that enhances business students’ communication skills.

“I have known Marc for over five years,” a colleague wrote. “He is an extremely gifted teacher, excelling in a myriad of courses and activities that directly benefit students. Not content merely to lead the effort to help our graduate students polish their public speaking and presentation skills, Marc spearheaded the establishment and expansion of services to our growing international student body, fostering best practices among faculty to enhance the educational experience in every graduate program at Fisher.”

He is a former director of training at Williams-Sonoma, Express (part of Limited Brands Inc.), Michigan National Bank and Galileo International. He also is the faculty advisor for the Professional Development Club at Fisher.

“Marc Ankerman provided everything that I was looking for in my MBA education — the hands-on learning, the expertise in motivating students, the real-world experience,”a student nominator wrote. “Coming from a family of teachers, I have great respect for the profession and recognize the passion, selflessness and giving nature that it takes to be a really great one. I recognize this in Marc.”

Ruth Kinder

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
The Ohio State University at Lima 
College of Arts and Sciences

Ruth Kinder exemplifies the kind of student engagement and active learning that are a hallmark of the finest instructors at The Ohio State University.

She has served as a lecturer (now senior lecturer) since 1994 and does everything in her power to see that her students succeed. “Some of us were struggling, and we needed to try something different to get a grasp on the material,” a former student wrote. “Luckily, Professor Kinder was testing a new Chemistry e-learning tool called ALEKS on our class. Professor Kinder’s fondness for electronic resources helped us beyond lecturing in the classroom and supervising in the lab. She made learning fun and was always willing to help when something wasn’t clear.”

That passion for integrating the latest technology into the classroom experience is perhaps what most sets Kinder apart from other outstanding teachers. She is a pioneer and leader in using educational technology, and peer evaluations of her teaching evince the highest regard for her sophisticated approach to information presentation.

Kinder’s work in hybrid course development and course assessment has been presented or published in a number of venues in recent years, including the Biennial Conference on Chemical Education, the Desire2Learn Annual Conference and a chapter in Assessment in the Disciplines: Chemistry.

“Simply stated, on a campus where outstanding undergraduate instruction is both expected and highly regarded (10 Ohio State Lima faculty have been recipients of Ohio State’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching),” a nominator wrote, “Ruth Kinder has established herself as one of the finest teachers on the campus.”

Matthew “Dr. Fus” Stoltzfus

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
College of Arts and Sciences

Matthew Stoltzfus, or “Dr. Fus,” is one of the most well-known chemistry lecturers on the planet — thanks to iTunes U and the more than 100,000 subscribers to his general chemistry course there.

“The first day that I walked into Dr. Fus’ Chemistry 1210 class, I instantly knew that this classroom experience would be completely different than anything I had ever been a part of,” a student wrote. “His energy and passion for the subject and teaching was contagious.” Stoltzfus employs the innovative “inverted classroom” in his teaching — he posts his lectures on iTunes for students to watch at home, leaving classroom time open for more hands-on work.

That innovative teaching method is only a part of what Stoltzfus brings to his classroom; students also appreciate his enthusiasm.

“As bland as general chemistry can seem to most people and as stressful as it may be for the thousand-plus students enrolled in these classes every semester, Dr. Stoltzfus has done a great job in putting what may seem to most sheltered college students to be a stressful situation into perspective,” a student wrote. “Tying in with his lectures stories of success, accomplishment and the benefits of hard-earned work, Matt takes a blue-collar approach to teaching, which I found to be quite effective.”

Stoltzfus also is one of the first faculty members who will take part in Ohio State’s Second-Year Transformational Experience Program, an important part of which is the promise of increased involvement with, and mentorship from, Ohio State faculty for second-year students who live on campus.