University of Iowa News Release

May 12, 2005

UI Names Outstanding Teaching Assistants

The University of Iowa has named 25 teaching assistants the winners of the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Awards for 2004-05. Winners receive a certificate of achievement and $1,000. They were honored at an award reception on Friday, April 29 with remarks by Paul Heidger, Chair of the Council on Teaching, and Tom Rocklin, Associate Provost for Faculty Development.

Rocklin thanked the award winning teaching assistants for their dedication to undergraduate teaching and for their outstanding service to the university, and said that their active engagement in the discovery and construction of new knowledge creates remarkable experiences for their undergraduate students.

"I cannot imagine a better teacher than a passionate learner. Each of these outstanding teachers has brought that passion to bear on the education of their students," he said. "Undergraduates are lucky to have had the opportunity to learn from them, and we, the University of Iowa, are lucky to have had them in our classrooms, studios, and labs to provide that experience."

The Council on Teaching has presented the awards each year since 1988. The awardees are teaching assistants who taught for at least one semester during the spring, summer, or fall of 2004. Nominations for the awards are sought from students, faculty, colleagues, departmental officers, and deans.

The 2004-05 Outstanding Teaching Assistants are:

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

American Studies: Sharon Lake
Chemistry: Ramon Cuellar
English: Dorothy Weiss
English/Rhetoric: Mary Moran, Angela Balcita
General Education Literature: Douglas Dowland, Scott Nowka, Rebecca Sheir
Geoscience: Matthew Wortel
German: Anja Szustak
Mathematics: Stephanie Ann Adkinson, Malik Bataineh, Esteban Diaz, Heather Russell
Music: Tara Warfield
Philosophy: Brett Gaul
Political Science: Francisco Pedraza
Psychology: Jessica Horst
Religious Studies: Steven Fink
Rhetoric: Thomas Keegan, Benjamin Otto
Spanish & Portuguese: Angelique Dwyer, Oscar Reynaga

Tippie College of Business

Economics: Todd Walker
Management & Organizations: Dan Caprar

STORY SOURCE: University of Iowa News Services, 300 Plaza Centre One, Suite 371, Iowa City, Iowa 52242-2500.

MEDIA CONTACT: Mary Geraghty Kenyon, 319-384-0011, mary-kenyon@uiowa.edu.