UNC Board of Governors Announces 2015 Awards for Teaching Excellence

Kesha Williams
April 01, 2015

The Board of Governors of the 17-campus University North Carolina has selected some of the University’s most outstanding faculty to receive its 2015 Awards for Excellence in Teaching. The 17 recipients, representing an array of academic disciplines, were nominated by special committees on their home campuses and selected by the Board of Governors’ Committee on Personnel and Tenure. Each award winner will receive a commemorative bronze medallion and a $12,500 cash prize. All awards will be presented by a Board of Governors member during each campus’ spring graduation ceremonies. Winners include Associate Professor Jennifer L. Burris, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Appalachian State University Associate Professor Carol Goodwillie, Department of Biology, East Carolina University Professor Ephraim Gwebu, Department of Natural Sciences, Elizabeth City State University Professor Annie McCullough Chavis, Department of Social Work, Fayetteville State University Associate Professor Jerono P. Rotich, Department of Human Performance and Leisure Studies, NC Agricultural and Technical State University and Associate Professor Karen Keaton Jackson, Department of Language and Literature, NC Central University. Other winners are Professor David G. Haase, Department Physics, NC State University Professor Leah Greden Mathews, Department of Economics, UNC Asheville Associate Professor Terry Sullivan, Department of Political Science, UNC-Chapel Hill Associate Professor Tracy C. Rock, Department of Reading and Elementary Education, UNC Charlotte Associate Professor Joseph M. Starobin, Department of Nanoscience, UNC Greensboro Professor Sivanadane Mandjiny, Department of Chemistry and Physics, UNC Pembroke Professor Cara N. Cilano, Department of English, UNC Wilmington Associate Professor Hans Gabriel, Division of Liberal Arts, UNC School of the Arts Associate Professor Alexander S. Macaulay, Department of History, Western Carolina University Associate Professor Michael J. McKenzie, Department of Exercise Physiology, Winston-Salem State University and Noreen A. Naiman, Instructor of biology and chemistry, NC School of Science and Mathematics. Award citations and photos for all 17 award recipients can be found on the University of North Carolina website at: http://www.northcarolina.edu/?q=board-governors-awards/teaching-awards-2015 The oldest public university in the nation, the University of North Carolina enrolls more than 222,000 Students and encompasses all 16 of North Carolina’s public institutions that grant baccalaureate degrees, as well as the NC School of Science and Mathematics, the nation’s first public residential high school for gifted students. UNC campuses support a broad array of distinguished liberal-arts programs, two medical schools and one teaching hospital, two law schools, a veterinary school, a school of pharmacy, 11 nursing programs, 15 schools of education, five schools of engineering and a specialized school for performing artists. The UNC Center for Public Television, with its 11-station statewide broadcast network, is also under the University umbrella. This press release appears courtesy of Joni B. Worthington, vice president for Communications: UNC General Administration