Alexander Bivolcic, UB Math Graduate Student, Wins Excellence in Teaching Award

The Excellence in Teaching Award for graduate teaching assistants is awarded in recognition of exceptional ability in teaching by UB graduate students. Students will be selected based on superb and creative performance in the classroom or laboratory, engagement with mentoring and advisement, a commitment to high academic standards in teaching, and a commitment to inclusive teaching.

Mark Marino served as the sponsor for Alex’s application. Regarding Bivolcic’s excellence in teaching, the department's award-winning nomination states, in part: 

Alex is deeply committed to teaching and students. He integrates contemporary pedagogy and educational technologies into his courses to help students achieve success. He truly enjoys teaching and working with students. He instills his enthusiasm and passion for mathematics into his students. His high levels of success are evidenced by his exemplary quantitative and qualitative evaluations. Additionally, Alex gives back to our Western New York community by participating in UB K-12 outreach and tutoring initiatives in the Buffalo Public Schools and Salamanca City Schools.

Alex’s ability to bring mathematics to life for students of diverse majors and abilities, to stimulate students to question and verify what they know through multiple methods, demonstrates his creativity in teaching mathematics while supporting all learning styles in the classroom. He is deeply committed to helping students reach their full potential. Alex’s teaching philosophy emphasizes the importance of students relating and applying what they learn in his mathematics courses to their majors and future careers.

Furthermore, Alex has informally advised and mentored numerous undergraduate and graduate students in both mathematics and physics. His unique perspectives from his interdisciplinary graduate studies have been beneficial for all students that he has worked with. He continually encourages and motivates UB students to go into mathematics, physics and STEM-related fields. Alex is a very strong, positive role model inside and outside of the classroom, department and university.