Chapman Family Teaching Awards

Created in 1993 with a gift during the Bicentennial Campaign from Max Carrol Chapman Jr. ’66 on behalf of the Chapman family, these awards honor distinguished teaching of undergraduate students. The award carries a stipend of $30,000 to be used over the period of five years.

Mara Evans

STEM teaching associate professor, biology department, College of Arts & Sciences, faculty member since 2015

Who was the best teacher you had and why?

Every instructor at each stage of my education motivated me to keep showing up and trying my best. One teacher I find myself thinking about frequently is Carter Gillies, who was my pottery teacher in Athens, Georgia, in 2013. I had just started my post-doctoral work at the University of Athens and needed a creative outlet that would give me a break from my academic pursuits. Carter had been teaching pottery for many years, having switched from pursuing a dissertation in philosophy to an MFA in pottery. I remember one night one of my classmates was struggling to get the clay to behave. It wouldn’t center. Then she applied too much pressure to the walls, her vessel imploded and wobbled to a sloppy lump. She was frustrated, maybe angry. I watched Carter speak to her gently: He acknowledged that the pot wasn’t turning out the way she wanted. And then he reminded her that she’d never thrown a pot before, that he had no expectation it would be perfect on the first try, and would she be willing to try again? And she did! Unfortunately, Carter died in late 2021 from colon cancer. He was a real champion of creativity. He encouraged me, through pottery, to maintain the mindset of a novice — to find enjoyment in the process, not just the product.

What does it take to be a good professor in 2022?

My mentor, Dr. Kelly Hogan (also a 2022 Teaching Award recipient), reminded me the other day that a good teacher is always looking for ways to grow and improve. This requires being open to constructive feedback, being willing to try new strategies to help more students be successful (in whatever way they personally define success) and finding ways to be curious and creative.

What’s something creative you’ve done to engage your students?

I recently taught a small class called Global Change Ecology, and I asked my students, who had spent 15 weeks learning about the biological consequences of the myriad ways humans are changing the planet, to pick a class topic or theme to communicate to the public. I knew they would be creative, and yet what they delivered was astounding: People wrote poems, made original art, made beautiful posters, baked cupcakes with ingredients only bats could pollinate. Someone wrote and illustrated a scratch-and-sniff children’s book about copepods, and another person wrote, composed and performed a song. Each one made something unique and special that helped the public see potential and feel hope in what the future holds for all of us.

Jason Franz

Associate professor, UNC-Chapel Hill & NC State joint department of biomedical engineering, faculty member since 2015

Who was the best teacher you had and why?

I have genuinely learned so much about effective teaching from the combination of classroom experiences provided by dozens of dedicated and enthusiastic instructors. Of those, Professor Rodger Kram at the University of Colorado Boulder stands out. His approach combined unparalleled knowledge, creativity and a hint of self-deprecating humor with a very clear commitment to the success of each student.

What does it take to be a good professor in 2022?

Adaptability, enthusiasm and an appreciation for the diverse backgrounds and lived experiences of each and every one of our students.

What’s something creative you’ve done to engage your students?

I love to find ways to enrich students’ in-class experiences with opportunities to appreciate the broader context and applications of what we’re learning. As one example, at a place like UNC-Chapel Hill, the significant and successful undergraduate research enterprise provides the perfect opportunity to demonstrate those applications. I host an annual walking tour for my undergraduate students after one of our lectures through each of our UNC-based biomedical engineering research labs. Representatives from each lab present not only their science, but also how undergraduate students have played a role in the discovery process and how skills from our curriculum are used and put into practice.

Rick Warner

Associate professor and director of film studies, English and comparative literature department, College of Arts & Sciences, faculty member since 2012

Who was the best teacher you had and why?

Adam Lowenstein, who was my dissertation adviser at the University of Pittsburgh. My teaching tries to emulate his approach in several respects: detailed and encouraging feedback on writing assignments, meticulous design of syllabi and class meetings and a constant emphasis on thinking historically. I appreciated how he incorporated film clips into lectures, using them to inspire open-ended conversation. He also modeled for me the joys of synthesizing teaching and research so the classroom becomes a laboratory for testing out ideas.

What does it take to be a good professor in 2022?

First, being mindful of the ongoing impact of the pandemic on campus life, mental health and career prospects after college. A professor can be sensitive to these matters and make adjustments without sacrificing rigor. Second, it’s increasingly apparent to me that one of my key tasks as a film scholar is to teach students how to pay close and patient attention, in a manner counter to the nonstop hastiness Silicon Valley has ingrained in us. I tend to teach films designed to alter our viewing habits and open up time for thought.

What’s something creative you’ve done to engage your students?

In some courses, I give students the option of creating an audiovisual work for their final project — a short film or video essay. They all have free access to Adobe creative tools, including editing applications. If necessary, they can use the cameras on their phones. They are still required to write a traditional essay that explains their approach, but I’m an advocate for teaching, in any field, that lets students learn through creative doing. I try to teach in a way that lets critical and creative work reinforce one another.

Yi Zhou

Teaching professor, Asian and Middle Eastern studies department, College of Arts & Sciences, faculty member since 2002

Who was the best teacher you had and why?

My very best teacher was a classical Chinese literature professor in college. He brought Chinese poetry to life. Listening to his lectures on the narratives and implications behind the poetry was like traveling back in time. I experienced for myself the delight, sorrow, bitterness and happiness of the ancient world. Learning ancient poetry was no longer merely about recitation and perfunctory understanding, but rather became an immersive and pleasant experience. His knowledge and passion for teaching inspired me to pursue a career as a college teacher.

What does it take to be a good professor in 2022?

Creating a positive learning community in which a can-do attitude is reinforced for everyone. Students with different cultural backgrounds, language proficiencies, learning styles and interests are all equally respected and supported.

What’s something creative you’ve done to engage your students?

I have found that making learning experiences meaningful and relevant for students will motivate them to learn. In fall 2020, I applied the project-based language learning (PBLL) approach in my advanced Chinese language classes to encourage active student engagement with course content. As requested by the Kidzu Children’s Museum in Chapel Hill, students helped translate children’s eBooks into Chinese to serve the growing Chinese community. Based on the reading resources provided by the museum, I designed a collaborative project with learning objectives, assessment rubrics and opportunities to meet up with native speakers to discuss the translated stories for corrective feedback. Students were encouraged to choose stories appropriate to their levels and interests. For the final presentations, I invited local high school students studying Chinese to come and listen to my students and share their story translations. I was amazed by my students’ achievements and their willingness to venture outside their comfort zones and work on challenging stories. My students enjoyed this project as well because the translation process gave them a sense of accomplishment and they found the community service meaningful.

Johnston Teaching Excellence Awards

Created in 1991, these awards recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching. Winners are nominated by Johnston Scholars and selected by a special committee of scholars in the James M. Johnston Scholarship Program. Two winners will receive $5,000 and a framed citation.

Linda Green

Teaching associate professor, mathematics department, College of Arts & Science, faculty member since 2013

Who was the best teacher you had and why?

Peter Doyle, my professor in grad school. He got me out of the mindset that math was about solving problems that other people give you and more into the mindset of math as play and exploration. As a teacher, he had an amazing knack for setting up all the concepts that we students needed to think about as a topic, and then stepping back to let us make our own mind-blowing connections and conclusions. Since working for him as a teaching assistant, I’ve used many of his interactive teaching methods and even some of his course materials in my own classes.

What does it take to be a good professor in 2022?

I’ve had to up my game as far as being organized, especially when teaching large classes, so that the class can transition smoothly between lecture, group activities and polls without running out of time. Being organized also helps with maintaining resources on Sakai, managing Zoom and live teaching, and making effective use of undergrad learning assistants. In recent semesters, I’ve also needed to be more flexible and compassionate. I try to say yes when I can, and when I say no, I try to be very explicit about why I can’t accommodate the request, whether it’s fairness to other students or simply the workload required.

What’s something creative you’ve done to engage your students?

In Math 210, to teach the idea of matrices acting as linear transformations, I give the students images of their faces before and after applying a matrix transformation. They have to match the images to the matrices used to do the transformation. Here is an example applied to my own face and the matrix I used to do it.

Carol Hee

Assistant teaching professor, Environment, Ecology and Energy Program (E3P), College of Arts & Sciences, faculty member since 2003

Who was the best teacher you had and why?

One of the best professors I ever had was Marc Alperin, my Ph.D. adviser in UNC’s marine science department. He’s become one of my best friends — we take turns hosting dinner parties, and I’m blessed to have an office right across the hall from him. Beyond being one of the most brilliant people I know, Marc shines in the classroom where his lessons are always perfectly organized and completely engaging. His love for science and commitment to student development is unparalleled.

What does it take to be a good professor in 2022?

In addition to being an expert in one’s field, one needs to do whatever is possible to help students understand the importance of what they are learning and to create a welcoming and inspiring learning environment, where students feel they are seen as intrinsically valuable and capable of growing intellectually. To achieve these goals, professors need to commit to becoming experts in the science of teaching and learning so they can evolve their pedagogy to ensure they are employing data-backed strategies that effectively empower students to become the best students and citizens they can.

Equally important, given that we’re living in a pandemic that has seriously affected the mental health of our students, is that professors need to demonstrate compassionate understanding through their words and deeds.

What’s something creative you’ve done to engage your students?

Right now, I’m most excited about a new course I developed and taught for the first time last semester called “Finance and Business Fundamentals for Environmental Managers” — or, more affectionately “Business Basics for Treehuggers.”

What is so exciting about this is that students who are passionate about environmental justice and want to “save the Earth” are learning tools that historically have been the exclusive providence of an elite few. By breaking down barriers between disciplines, I am teaching the jargon and skills that will empower my students to participate as informed voices in conversations at the tables of power, where decisions that affect the environment and society’s well-being are made. It couldn’t be more rewarding to see students who previously didn’t know how to best channel their love for the natural world and their concern for its sustainability and the well-being of all people and species have the “a-ha moment” that comes when they see a future career path they previously weren’t aware of or didn’t think they could pursue.

Look for 2022 University Teaching Awards stories every day this week. Find the ones you missed.

The Well