Four College of Sciences Instructors Receive Class of 1934 Teaching Achievement Awards

This story is adapted from a campus-wide article written by Joyce Weinsheimer, Center for Teaching and Learning.

Four College of Sciences instructors have been recognized for excellence in teaching, thanks to the scores they received from an annual student survey of Georgia Tech faculty.

The four are part of a group of 40 instructors honored as winners of the Student Recognition of Excellence in Teaching: Class of 1934 CIOS Award. (The award was formerly called the Class of 1940 Course Survey Teaching Effectiveness Award.) It is one of a number of annual recognition initiatives from the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) to honor outstanding teaching.

The College of Sciences instructors honored with the award are:

• Adam Decker, senior academic professional, School of Biological Sciences
• John Etnyre, professor, School of Mathematics
• Neha Gupta, academic professional, School of Mathematics
• Carrie Shepler, principal academic professional, School of Chemistry and Biochemistry

The award specifically recognizes faculty members with exceptional scores and response rates on the Course Instructor Opinion Survey (CIOS). The CIOS is completed by students at the end of each semester to provide feedback to instructors about the learning experience in their respective courses.

Award nominations are annually open to full-time instructors of both small (15-30 students) and large classes (at least 40 students). Recipients were selected based on the sum total of scores in categories including instructor’s respect and concern for students; level of enthusiasm for teaching the course; and ability to stimulate student interest in subject matter.

“Faculty who receive the award often remark what an honor it is, especially since it’s based on students’ feedback about their work in the course,” says CTL Director Joyce Weinsheimer. “At least 85 percent of their students have taken the time to complete CIOS, and these students highly value the instruction they received. There’s definitely consensus among the students that this person has helped them learn, and that’s always great to hear.”