Jennifer Surtees honored as Innovative Teacher
In 2025, Jennifer Surtees was one of three recipients of UB’s Teaching Innovation Award, which recognizes faculty who use new teaching methods that drive impactful outcomes.
UB’s Teaching Innovation Award recognizes faculty members who have used new methods and approaches to teaching that have had a demonstrable effect on enhancing student-learning outcomes, including innovative uses of educational technology. All UB faculty members are eligible for the award.
Jennifer Surtees, professor and chair, Department of Biochemistry, and associate dean for undergraduate education and STEM outreach, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, was one of three recipients in 2025 along with Anahita Khodadadi, assistant professor, Department of Architecture and Tanya Monestier, professor, School of Law.
Surtees has shared some of her innovative teaching strategies with other CII members on several occasions. Notably, at our 2024 CII Member Workshop, she and her collaborator, Anne Burnidge of UB Theatre and Dance, shared how they teach microbiology through dance--challenging students from elementary school to college to move like various microbes.
Surtees also joined other CII members, Jamal Williams and Laurene Tumiel-Berhalter, to offer a Community Health Speaks series about genes and genomics at the Delavan-Grider Community Center. The 4-part series culminated in a “Paint Your Genome” event that encouraged participants to consolidate their learning through artistic expression.
Please join us in congratulating Jennifer Surtees on this well-deserved recognition.
