Faculty Development honors
instructors, SPS, TAs
for outstanding teaching

NIU’s Faculty Development and Instructional Design Center has honored four non-tenure track educators and four graduate teaching assistants for outstanding work in the classroom.

A reception was held April 19 at the Holmes Student Center Capitol Room. Each educator was presented with a plaque by Provost J. Ivan Legg, and each TA received a plaque from Suzanne E. Willis, acting associate dean of the Graduate School.

Faculty Development established the awards for TAs in 2004, and added non-tenure track educators this year.

Here is a closer look at the winners.

Ed Brata has been teaching sales courses in the Department of Marketing since 1992, and his classes fill to capacity through recommendations from former students. Brata learns every student’s name and something about them. He mentors students and remains friends with them years after graduation. He has accumulated relationships with recruiters and business partners who visit his classes as guest speakers.

“It’s crucial that students have a grasp of their own self worth before they can become effective learners,” Brata said. “I respect each student as an individual and strive to get to know them personally. I encourage students to face life with confidence and the determination to succeed.”

Judith Kuczek has been teaching in the School of Nursing for more than 10 years. Kuczek coordinates two laboratories in the school, facilitates students from courses other than hers who visit the laboratory and is actively involved in school and university committees. Kuczek was awarded one of the first $25,000 NIU Foundation Initiative Grants to renovate the School of Nursing learning laboratory and another grant totaling $3,000 toward instructional improvements and the purchase of computer software.

Kuczek’s teaching philosophy is to “take time to know your students, take pleasure in their successes, teach what you love, learn to laugh at yourself and never be afraid to say you don’t know something.”

Daniel Olson has been teaching upper division and graduate courses in the Department of Biological Sciences for 20 years. Olson is actively involved in departmental and university activities including his work with learner-challenged students in the CAAR program and special guest presentations in the School of Music, Mortar Board and the Huskie Student Athletic Training Camp.

“My teaching philosophy,” Olson said, “has always revolved around my enthusiasm for the subject matter (anatomy), my enthusiasm and respect for the students I teach, my desire to instill critical-thinking skills and interest in life-long learning into my students, my efforts to exhibit exemplary ethics in all areas of the teaching endeavor, and my efforts to continually utilize new pedagogical techniques and methods into my teaching.”

Cynthia Stecher has been teaching upper division courses in the Department of Mathematical Sciences for 14 years. Stecher is the coordinator of Math Education Teacher Certification, and advises almost 50 math education majors each semester. She is involved in departmental and university committees, and has served as co-editor of the Illinois Mathematics Teacher, a journal that provides suggestions for improvement of mathematic instruction in Illinois schools. Stecher establishes a personal relationship with students and ensures students who complete student teaching are well-prepared to make the transition to full-time teaching.

“As an educator of pre-service teachers I need to be a role model where I focus my teaching on student-centered learning,” Stecher said. “I am dedicated to and treat my students as individuals and help them become independent problem solvers no matter how much effort it takes.”

LaMetra Curry, a graduate student in the Department of Counseling, Adult and Higher Education, is a teaching assistant at the NIU Center for Black Studies, where she teaches IDSP 200, Racism in American Culture, and IDSP 211, Education for Cultural Sensitivity. Curry’s use of effective teaching strategies engages her students in doing early research, finding ways to use their creativity and providing opportunity to put theory into practice by opening up a community discussion on racism and completing a volunteer assignment at Hope Haven, a local homeless shelter.

One of Curry’s nominators emphasized that her dedication and concern for other’s academic success has been instrumental in providing a very visible improvement in the retention rate of freshman students at NIU.

Fumiko Kanekawa, a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences, was also named recipient of the Department of Biological Sciences Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for 2004-2005. Kanekawa has taught courses at all academic levels in the department, and currently runs two lab sections a week. On her own initiative, she put together an extensive set of handouts and constructed her own Web site for the course.

Although she has the reputation of being a “taskmaster” with her undergraduate students, Kanekawa’s student evaluation scores have been consistently high since she began with the department in the fall of 2003.

Eun-Hee (Maria) Lim, a graduate student in the Department of Teaching and Learning, has been a teaching assistant in the NIU School of Art for the past three years, where she has taught ARTE 344 and ARTE 482, two courses that link art education majors and local DeKalb schoolchildren. She was nominated by members of the Graduate Committee in the School of Art for her initiative and ability to revitalize a children’s community art program that was on the verge of dying. Her non-traditional teaching efforts have brought pre-school students into the program and provided scholarships for NIU student families.

Lim, a professional fiber artist, was selected to make a juried presentation at the National Art Education Association meeting in March and was honored with a 2004 Illinois Art Education Association’s Graduate Student Scholarship.

Christopher Whidden, a graduate student in the Department of Political Science, was also the recipient of the political science department’s 2004 Finkelstein Award. Whidden has been a teaching assistant in the department since the fall of 2000. He has led the discussion section of POLS 100 (Introduction to American Government), and has had complete responsibility for teaching independent sections of two undergraduate courses, POLS 150 (Democracy in America) and POLS 251 (Introduction to Political Philosophy) since the fall of 2002.

Whidden’s performance, including grading patterns and quantitative evaluation data, indicated consistently high ratings and student evaluations.

5-9-05