Meet the Faculty Award winners
Congratulations are being sent to Dr. Sarah Bergh and Dr. Annie Lee on receiving the 2020 Union Institute & University Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching and Certificate of Distinction for Teaching, respectively.
The Faculty Awards program are especially gratifying for the recipients because they provide peer recognition for exemplary efforts and achievements in the areas of teaching, service, and scholarship.
Dr. Bergh, the recipient of the Award for Excellence in Teaching, is the Assistant Director of the Master of Arts program, and teaches in both the master’s program and General Education program.
She was nominated by the Master of Arts Online faculty who wrote, “She is a valuable asset to Union, a teacher in the widest sense: both as a beloved guide in the classroom and also someone who uses her administrative role as a way to teach and guide students through the program and into the world beyond. She is committed to the success of each of her students, working individually to help them pursue their particular passions at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. In her five years of teaching at Union, she has consistently received high praise from her students. Many note how much they appreciate the time she takes to give them individualized feedback. Her undergraduate students mention that they find the course material and her passion for it inspiring and applicable to their professional and personal lives, while her Master of Arts students find the course gives them the confidence to move forward with their graduate programs.”
Dr. Bergh is honored by the recognition by her fellow faculty members.
“Union’s faculty are incredibly dedicated to their students and the university. They have consistently set a high bar for teaching, practice, and service,” said Dr. Bergh. “The three things I most enjoy about teaching at Union are the variety of backgrounds and perspectives our students bring to discussions; our small class size, which gives me a chance to engage with each student; and the supportive faculty I work with in my departments and on committees.”
Dr. Lee is the recipient of the Certificate of Distinction for Teaching and is a professor in the General Education program.
She was nominated by the B.S. General Education faculty. Dr. Tom Frederick, chair, wrote, “She is a rising star on our faculty. When I review responses from students on her student surveys, I see mostly perfection. When I review her classes, I see excellence. Her courses are appealing and she transformed a course shell that was adequate into a course shell that is excellent. Of particular note, she included digital literacy within existing courses, transforming traditional paper file upload to a digital product. With her coaching, students are now challenged to present this assignment as a mini-documentary, a podcast, photojournalism project, and Power Point presentation. This assignment gives students a skill set for other courses, but also added a viable component to each student’s resume.”
Dr. Lee is honored to be recognized by her peers and the Union community.
“As an instructor at Union, I continue to be inspired by my students and their unique lived experiences that inform their understanding of our social world. I am very grateful to be a part of their intellectual journeys as they strive to achieve their academic, professional, and personal goals.”
The Faculty Awards program, established by UI&U’s Faculty Council, recognizes that all Union faculty members exhibit commendatory effort on behalf of their students and their professions, and provides an opportunity for faculty members to recognize, on a regular basis, exemplary efforts on behalf of their peers.
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