Grad students recognized for excellence in teaching

Eleven UB graduate students received the 2015-2016 Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching Award at the Graduate School Spring Awards Ceremony and Reception held earlier this month.    

The Graduate School and the Graduate Student Association established the annual awards program to recognize students for their teaching performances, responsibilities, hard work and dedication as teaching assistants and instructors. The award is presented to those who have provided their students “with instruction of the highest quality.”      

This year’s honorees were Micaela B. Barker, Architecture; Anne Marie Butler, Transnational Studies; Alireza Farasat, Industrial and Systems Engineering; Hans Husayn Harmsen, Anthropology; Dustin T. McCall, Chemistry; Leslie K. Nickerson, English; Katharina Pabst, Linguistics; Timothy A. Pruitt, Psychology; Courtney L. Rice, Psychology; Davide Salvo, Classics; and Dijana Savija, Romance Languages and Literatures.   

The honorees are full-time graduate students who have taught at UB for at least one academic year. Their “outstanding teaching competence, effective mentorship of students and maintenance of high academic standards and expectations of student performance” were recognized by professors, students and associates within their department.           

Honoree Micaela Barker, a second-year student studying architecture and planning, was nominated for the award by Beth Tauke, associate professor of architecture. They met when Barker was a UB freshman and they have worked together in recent years.     

“My long relationship with [Tauke] and other supportive professors has meant a great deal to me,” says Barker. “This award was encouraging to receive because it communicates to me that my relationship with my professors has also been meaningful on their end.”       

Barker credits Tauke as someone who has taught her “that there is meaningful thought and value in every student.” She sees herself teaching in the future and is excited to be working on a thesis project with Tauke next year.       

Another honoree, chemistry student Dustin T. McCall, has completed his dissertation and is nearing the end of his graduate career. He was delighted to be nominated, as teaching has been a passion of his even before he began college.  

“UB, the Department of Chemistry and the students have helped to prepare me for my future as an educator and have provided me with many unforgettable opportunities,” McCall says. “Mentoring young minds is a rewarding experience, whether it involves traditional coursework or research at the graduate level.”  

For the past three years, Katharina Pabst has been teaching her native language of German at UB. An international student, she has conducted research and taught sociolinguistics during the spring semester.  

“My professional and personal life have benefitted greatly from living abroad and experiencing another culture,” she says. “I enjoy the opportunity to encourage students to engage with different languages and cultures.”

Also recognized at the ceremony were the winners of the Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award: Margarita Dubocovich, SUNY Distinguished Professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, and Mark O’Brian, professor and chair of the Department of Biochemistry.  

In addition, Alice Mitchell, a doctoral student in the Department of Linguistics, received the Outstanding PhD Dissertation award.