Texas A&M University-Kingsville faculty members who completed a course from the Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) received pins and certificates from the association.
Faculty who earned the certificate in "Effective Teaching Practices" were honored with a reception and award ceremony on Aug. 24 in the Memorial Student Union Building. The Texas A&M University System sent a medallion and letter from Dr. James Hallmark, Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, for each faculty member.
Faculty who completed the course include Ammar Bhandari from the department of Agriculture, Agribusiness and Environmental Sciences; Lihua Zuo from the Mathematics department; Liz Janzen from the School of Music; Nirmal Goswami from the History, Political Science and Philosophy department; Amir Hessami from the Civil and Architectural Engineering department; and Nick Sciullo from the Art, Communications and Theater department. Recipients from the Biological and Health Sciences department include Fang He, Weimin Xi and Shannon Aguilar. The Clinical Health Sciences department recipients include Robert Villa, Maura Krestar and Teresa Young. Montamas Suntravat and Kevin Francis from the department of Chemistry completed the course. Timothy Oblad and Marion Blake are recipients from the department of Psychology and Sociology. The Teacher and Bilingual Education department recipients include Lisa McNair, Monica Wong-Ratcliff and Patricia Huskin. Ashlee Burt and Amber Shipherd are recipients from the Health and Kinesiology department. Recipients from the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department include Md. Ashfaqur Rahman and Ayush Goyal. Matthew Alexander and Zhaoqi Fan are recipients from the Chemical and Natural Gas Engineering department. Craig Meyer and Kenneth Price from the Language and Literature department completed the course.
Dr. Scott Jones, from the School of Music, served as the Faculty Facilitator and also received a pin and certificate.
Faculty credentialed by ACUE have demonstrated comprehensive knowledge and skills across all of the core teaching competencies defined in ACUE’s effective practice framework, the association’s website states.
Certificates are awarded in collaboration with the American Council on Education. These credentials distinguish faculty and institutions for their commitment to educational excellence.
Cindy Blackwell, an academic director for ACUE, said the association’s mission is student success and equity through quality instruction.
“ACUE is unlike any other program. It is a way for faculty to improve and really engage in their teaching,” Blackwell said. “What we want to do is equip faculty. What we know about faculty is that a lot of them move through a Ph.D. program and do not have any opportunity to truly understand good teaching. A lot of times it’s just what they model from former faculty members and so this gives them those teaching practices that they can implement in the classroom for better student success.”
Zhaoqi Fan, assistant professor at the department of chemical and natural gas engineering, said the program allowed him to be a more prepared professor to his students. He said he was able to practice and test strategies he learned in his classroom.
“I believe that taking this course would help me serve students in a better way,” Fan said. “I learned a lot from this program … I was quite impressed with the effectiveness of those teaching strategies and skills.”
Marion Blake, associate professor of Psychology, said the program has changed her teaching style in a positive way.
“It’s not about quantity, how much I teach. It’s about how well I teach and how much the students benefit,” Blake said. “It slowed me down, but in a good way. I think it’s improved the quality of my teaching even if I have had to cut back on the quantity that I cover in a semester or I find other ways to cover it.”
“I feel better because I think I’m contributing more to their education, more to their personal development and I’m happy about that,” she said.
To learn more about the program, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szD_G0t6ZMA.
