The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences gratefully acknowledges the following individuals for their excellence in teaching and advising in 2006. Their contributions are vital to maintaining LAS as a great college.
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Academic Advising Award
Phyllis Vanlandingham, Coordinator for Secondary Advising, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Honorable Mention: Michael Myers, Academic Advisor, LAS General Curriculum Center -
Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by Graduate Teaching Assistants
Melissa Girard, Teaching Assistant, English
Jon Sherman, Teaching Assistant, Germanic Languages and Literatures -
Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by Instructional Staff
Lori Ann Garner, Lecturer, English -
Lynn M. Martin Award for Distinguished Women Teachers
Julia F. Saville, Associate Professor, English -
Humanities Award for Excellence in Teaching
Donald Crummey, Professor, History
Thomas Mackaman, Teaching Assistant, History -
Dean's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
Scott Ahlgren, Associate Professor, Mathematics
Cara A. Finnegan, Associate Professor, Speech Communication
Academic Advising Award
Phyllis Vanlandingham, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Phyllis Vanlandingham has been employed in teaching and advising capacities at the U. of I. since 1983. She currently specializes in Teacher Education Preparation and serves as the Coordinator for Secondary Advising where she coordinates 12 LAS academic departments delivering services to more than 600 students who are pre-teaching or admitted to teaching options. She provides staff support for the Council of Teacher Certification and assists in communicating and implementing actions undertaken by the council. She serves on all Area Admissions committees for Secondary Education in the college, helping to ensure continuity in policy interpretation and practice across the disciplines. Advisees view her as an amazing mentor and the go-to person if they have an advising question or worry: "Phyllis takes the time to make sure each student feels like they have their own personal advisor who really, truly cares." "She gave me the reassuring feeling that I can and will succeed at this university in whatever field I choose." "I have met with nine different advisors. Ms. Vanlandingham has been the most excellent advisor of them all. [She has] provided me with educational opportunities to make me a better teacher." "Her unwavering dedication to scholarship and service for all make her an exceptional advisor. Phyllis was an outstanding resource and made my future her priority." "She has been an amazing mentor and advisor. She has been one of the most influential people I have ever known and my association with her has impacted my life and career tremendously..."
Michael Myers, LAS General Curriculum Center
Michael Myers's goal for his advisees is success in and out of the classroom by teaching them "self-awareness, confidence, and problem-solving strategies." A former advisee wrote, "Mike Myers has been a driving force in my academic career. He has taught me the importance of utilizing all that the University of Illinois has to offer while standing on my own two feet." Dr. Myers's openness, welcoming personality, accessibility, and devotion to his students has earned him high praise: "Dr. Mike helped me to find myself and develop as the best person I could be." "He really makes it seem that he cares about our future as much as we do."
Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by Graduate Teaching Assistants
Melissa Girard, Department of English
Melissa Girard makes her students want to learn. She is an imaginative and ambitious teacher whose goal is to help students to choose a life-long course of personal and intellectual freedom: "[Her] open-mindedness and respect of every student's feelings brought our class together emotionally to the point where we were all friends, and when we struggled over a difficult poem, we struggled together." "From my seat in the front row, our talks and debates, with all their intimacy and honesty, could almost have been transplanted to a local coffeehouse." Ms. Girard views teaching as "a dynamic, evolving process-a lesson I happily rediscover each day with every new student." Former students write: "She encouraged each of us to speak about poems which affected us personally, never judging or lecturing. Her attitude was contagious and, soon enough, the class was speaking to her and each other like friends, not simply colleagues." "She built the perfect balance of academic authority and professionalism with 'being our friend.' When we couldn't find meaning, she asked pointed questions, and when we couldn't agree on a meaning, Melissa had us consider a bigger picture. When we were lost, she would lecture, breezily drawing from an encyclopedic wealth of information. Melissa created an atmosphere of respect, openness, and enthusiasm around poetry, elevating it, making the poems indelible."
Jon Sherman, Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures
Since his arrival in 1999, Jon Sherman has taught a total of 10 different courses in three languages-German, Swedish, and English-both on campus and through the study-abroad program in Vienna. Mr. Sherman incorporates a significant cultural component in the language classroom that students enjoy: "Jon is a global citizen and he truly prepares his students to become the same by sharing with them his own curiosity about and fascination with other cultures and languages and by encouraging them to truly immerse themselves in these cultures to attain a better understanding of the world and of their own culture." Last year Mr. Sherman designed his own topics course that was entirely centered on the cultural subject of contemporary German pop music. A former student writes, "He found a way to make German popular music interesting and relevant for everyone through a combination of his own intimate understanding of German-speaking culture and his desire to share this understanding with exceptional humor and insight." He also serves as mentor to former students. A current Yale graduate student writes: "I turned to Jon again for advice, and he readily supplied suggestions for numerous teaching ideas and resources. Part of my goal as an instructor was to reach Jon's level of comfort and competence with my own students, and I constantly use him as a model for myself as a TA."
Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching by Instructional Staff
Lori Ann Garner, Department of English
"Who knew grammar could be anything but boring!" Lori Garner has been earning fulsome praise from undergraduates grateful for the opportunity to, in the words of a former student, "overcome the ennui that would ordinarily accompany a study of grammar." Lori Garner serves her students exceedingly well when she introduces them afresh to the language they thought they knew. Dr. Garner is teaching future teachers through ENGL 403 History of the English Language, and ENGL 402 Descriptive English Grammar, both required for all Teaching of English majors and she is doing a magnificent job. "Your two classes have COMPLETELY changed the way I look at language and have totally modified the way I will teach. Your enthusiasm is apparent and it carries over to us." "[One of the] unfortunate preconceived notions that people have is that learning about grammar of language is dry and boring, and one of Lori's greatest strengths as an instructor is that she demolishes this idea. She made learning fun with the use of games, topical discussions, and an amazingly positive attitude." Lori is an exceptionally conscientious teacher and an effective classroom leader: "I think Lori is a fantastic, caring teacher who will stop at nothing to make learning interesting and relevant for her students. She sacrifices no academic rigor in her successful quest to make her class fun and engage her students." "Dr. Garner's dedication to her students and willingness to push her students past the norm resulted in my own self-awareness."
Lynn M. Martin Award for Distinguished Women Teachers
Julia F. Saville, Department of English
Professor Julia Saville's students have described her as organized, available, knowledgeable, concise, direct, intriguing, and remarked on her ability to read and make vivid the literature she assigns. She doesn't teach Victorian literature, she performs and embodies it: "I have never had a class in which I looked forward to lectures as much as I did with [Professor Saville]. I loved the examples in class, her readings of the texts, and interpretations." "Strength: super-human brilliance. Extremely witty and charming. Her enthusiasm was positively amazing, her zeal for the subjects that we covered is absolutely unsurpassable. Really kept my attention. Very well spoken and explained topics beautifully. I can't say enough." Students appreciate the "detailed and enriching feedback" they receive on their writing: "The care with which she read my writing made the idea of not doing my absolute best work simply unthinkable." "I had many fantastic teachers when I was at the U. of I., but it was Professor Saville who finally gave me an understanding of the conventions of academic discourse and showed me why those conventions are useful." Professor Saville's immense passion for teaching has inspired countless students and influenced future teachers: "She inspired me to try to achieve my full academic potential and I will never forget the formative impact she has had upon my educational development." "Professor Saville influenced my own teaching persona by giving me an example of what a strong female presence in the classroom can look like."
Humanities Award for Excellence in Teaching
Donald Crummey, Department of History
Professor Donald Crummey has made outstanding contributions to the General Education curriculum over the last three decades at the University of Illinois, teaching no fewer than seven General Education courses. His offerings include mainstays of the African history curriculum, a field as vast as the African continent itself. In the early 1990s, Professor Crummey began introducing courses in environmental history such as HIST 101 Global Environmental Change, its goal being that students should become aware of the relationship between environmental history and the global political history of the twentieth century. Students have responded to Professor Crummey's passion: "Thanks to Professor Crummey, and my experiences in his classes, I have realized the importance of being proactive on issues that really matter to me, such as environmentalism..." "[He]...helped me to connect my passion for learning with my interests in politics. He was also the first professor to motivate me to consider continuing my education at the graduate level. His teaching had helped me to understand the complex intersection of history and political movements and his personal encouragement had planted the seed for me to pursue an advanced degree." "Two critical characteristics set him apart: his ability to 'reach' his students and his stimulating curriculum." "He exudes intelligence in all the information he presents and is well organized with his lesson plans. And what keeps me in sync with him today is how he always makes himself available to his students, past and present, in whatever areas they need help."
Thomas Mackaman, Department of History
In the past five years, Thomas Mackaman has taught on three instructional levels in the Department of History-as a TA in huge introductory lecture courses, as a lecturer in a 300-level summer course, and as the teacher of a specialized seminar he designed himself. He has distinguished himself in all three. Mr. Mackaman strives for a classroom environment in which no student feels silenced or marginalized. He encourages the honest expression of all views but trains his young audience to present their ideas with logic and evidence from the historical record. He is an excellent promoter of discussion and does an excellent job relating what he knows to the students. Mr. Mackaman approaches issues in ways that make it possible for students to personally connect with historical experiences that might otherwise seem distant. Former students write: "By teaching us what guides history, he allowed us the liberty to manipulate the microscopic facts, people, and events in our own minds." " I feel truly lucky to have had an instructor who displays such dedication to his students and a passion for teaching, learning, understanding, and appreciating history." "[His] enthusiasm and knowledge made me look forward to attending his class every week. Each class session was lively and intellectually stimulating." "His methods of teaching made the learning process flow seamlessly and inspired us to think outside the box."
Dean's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching
Scott Ahlgren, Department of Mathematics
Professor Scott Ahlgren is constantly taking the initiative to spread the excitement of logical deduction and creative discovery to the next generation of active thinkers. His educational activities span the range of instructional levels, from high school outreach programs through introductory undergraduate courses to advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in his research specialty. Professor Ahlgren has plunged in as an enthusiastic but demanding instructor. His charge to the students in his class is: "The prerequisites are an open mind, a willingness to think, and a good attitude...bring these to class every day." Students praise his teaching style: "His teaching is wonderfully lucid: he's really good at making concepts extraordinarily simple. Somehow Professor Ahlgren has managed to make the material he teaches into windows that reveal the wide world of mathematics." "Professor Ahlgren's teaching has been the long-awaited key in a door that wouldn't budge, making a subject once frustratingly dense now delightfully simple." "Professor Ahlgren was one of the few instructors I had that really brought his material alive with a good mix of theory and practical application." "I have extensively used the logic skills learned from him in numerous projects I have been a part of in academia and industry." In addition to his teaching duties in the Department of Mathematics, Professor Ahlgren has taught four-day short courses in number theory at University High School, inspiring students to become mathematicians. He has also organized, with Professor Bruce Berndt, a high-level NSF-CBMS conference on modular forms at the U. of I. and hosted the Illinois Number Theory conference at the U. of I.
Cara A. Finnegan, Department of Speech Communication
Professor Cara Finnegan's undergraduate courses have the reputation of being extremely challenging but also exceptionally rewarding. Professor Finnegan's primary goal in teaching her undergraduate courses is to motivate students to develop "rhetorical sensibility" that extends beyond her specific class. A number of students remarked that the skills and knowledge developed in Professor Finnegan's classes are useful both in other classes and in understanding the world outside the classroom. "She has taught me the importance of being critically analytical and intellectually curious, which has served me well as a graduate student. But most importantly, she has taught me the significance of contributing..." "Dr. Finnegan's commitment to teaching and to my individual success largely influenced my studies at U. of I. and I still count her as one of the best teachers I have ever had." "After having Dr. Finnegan for a teacher, I have become a more aware citizen and I have not read texts or listened to speeches in the same way." Professor Finnegan is the Course Director for Oral and Written Communication (SPCM 111/112) which enrolls 800 students each semester. Her work with the teaching assistants of SPCM 111/112 raised the quality of undergraduate education for the entire department. She trains these teachers extensively and meets regularly with them throughout the year. The result is an excellent course, in which large numbers of students are able to benefit from Professor Finnegan's expertise. A former TA writes: "She guided me, inspired me, and challenged me and she helped me to see what a difference I could make as an educator."
