Four University of Iowa faculty members have won the 2012 President and Provost Award for Teaching Excellence in recognition of their years of outstanding teaching. The recipients are: A. Allen Bradley Jr., professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering; Jay Christensen-Szalanski, professor and departmental executive officer of the Department of Management and Organizations in the Tippie College of Business; Caroline K. Sheerin, professor of legal analysis, writing, and research in the College of Law; and Jodi Tate, clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the Carver College of Medicine.

The award, which is administered by the UI Council on Teaching, was created in 2004 as a university-wide recognition for faculty members who have demonstrated a sustained, high level of teaching excellence.

Bradley has taught at all levels of the curriculum, including the large introductory course Engineering for Problem Solving I, for which he teaches two large sections of about 125 students each and also serves as course director. He is famous for memorizing all 250 or so students’ names within the first few days of class, a feat that makes an immediate impression on students and helps them start off their collegiate careers with a sense of belonging. Another of his important contributions to student success is as faculty advisor for the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and he takes an active role in that group’s many activities. Bradley won the Collegiate Teaching Award in 2011, and was selected by graduating seniors as the civil and environmental engineering faculty member who had the most impact on their education.

Christensen-Szalanski is professor and DEO of the Department of Management and Organizations in the Tippie College of Business. He is an inventive, engaging, and highly effective teacher who touches the lives of hundreds of undergraduate students each year in the large introductory course Introduction to Management. He also teaches in the college’s off-campus MBA programs, including the international program in Hong Kong. A leader in developing innovative teaching materials, he partnered with a colleague to develop a series of multimedia digital textbooks, and he routinely uses multimedia resources to great success in his classes. As DEO, he has been committed to creating a departmental culture that fosters effective classroom teaching. As a result, faculty and TAs in the department have on multiple occasions been recognized for some of the most effective teaching on campus.

Sheerin teaches in—and has played a key role in the development and refinement of—the Legal Analysis Writing and Research program, a yearlong, required course of study for first-year law students. She brings creativity, energy, and a “learn by doing” philosophy to her classroom, and offers each student invaluable personalized feedback and one-on-one instruction. In addition to her classroom teaching, she supervises students in the Summer Legal Placement course, a for-credit program that gives students the opportunity to sharpen their legal skills by working with lawyers in a nonprofit or government setting; and she serves as the faculty advisor for the Equal Justice Foundation, a student group dedicated to doing—and raising funds to support—public interest legal work. She previously served as the faculty advisor to Outlaws, a student group for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered law students.

Tate is a gifted and compassionate educator, mentor, and clinician who has been instrumental in improving the quality of the educational experience in her department. She teaches in and directs the psychiatry component of the Foundations of Clinical Practice IV course taken by all second-year medical students and first-year physician assistant students, directs the psychiatry clerkship for third-year medical students, and supervises residents in the outpatient clinic. She has a special commitment to teaching medical students, residents, and faculty about working with individuals with intellectual disability, an area that has been neglected in the training of most health care providers. She developed an innovative interdisciplinary elective on that topic for fourth-year medical students, and a lecture series for residents. She received the Senior Faculty of the
Year award from third year medical students in 2010-11.