Faculty members recognized for innovative teaching at annual ‘Celebrate Teaching!’ event

February 12, 2015

Eight members of the faculty at the Gillings School of Global Public Health – one from each academic unit at the School – were honored at a ‘Celebrate Teaching!’ event on Feb. 11 and presented with the School’s fourth annual Teaching Innovation Awards.

Left to right are award-winning teachers Dr. Brian Pence (EPID), Dr. Christine Tucker (MCH), Dr. June Stevens (NUTR), Lori Evarts (PHLP), Dr. John Paul (HPM), Dr. Jane Monaco (BIOS) and Dr. Jill Stewart (ESE), Not pictured: Dr. Kurt Ribisl (HB).

The awardees are Lori Evarts, MPH, clinical assistant professor in the Public Health Leadership Program; Jane Monaco, DrPH, clinical associate professor of biostatistics; John Paul, PhD, clinical professor of health policy and management; Brian Pence, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology; Kurt Ribisl, PhD, professor of health behavior; June Stevens, PhD, AICR/WCRF Distinguished Professor of nutrition; Jill Stewart, PhD, associate professor of environmental sciences and engineering; and Christine Tucker, PhD, lecturer in maternal and child health.

Evarts, Paul, Ribisl and Stewart also won in previous years.

First presented in February 2012, the student-organized awards honor faculty members who “improve the learning environment by integrating new technologies, engaging students in interactive activities, employing creative assessment methods, and introducing and incorporating progressive curriculum ideas into the classroom.”

A $1,000 prize is intended to help each winner advance his or her educational development in teaching and learning.

The teaching innovation initiative developed out of the School’s SPH2020 efforts and through a teaching and learning task force held at the School in 2011. The task force had recommended identification, encouragement and reward of high-quality teaching; enhanced technology and applications for teaching and learning; and identification and support of faculty members who are early adopters of curriculum innovation.

The awards presentation followed “A Culture of Cheating?,” a talk on student academic integrity presented by Holly Tatum, PhD, associate professor of psychology at Randolph College, in Lynchburg, Va., and a panel discussion on the topic. Panelists included Aisha Pridgen, director of the UNC Office of Student Conduct; Gillings School faculty members Jane Monaco, DrPH, Anissa Vines, PhD and Vic Schoenbach, PhD; and moderator Charletta Sims Evans, MEd, assistant dean for student affairs at the Gillings School.

The School’s academic programs committee sponsored these and an earlier ‘Celebrate Teaching!’ Month event. One more event in the series is scheduled for Feb. 16 at 9 a.m. in 2306 McGavran-Greenberg Hall.

Faculty members are invited at that time to hear and take part in a panel discussion of the Master of Public Health degree and the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health’s ‘Framing the Future’ initiative.

Guest panelists include Rita DeBate, PhD, associate dean for academic and student affairs in the College of Public Health at the University of South Florida; Ian Lapp, PhD, associate dean for strategic educational initiatives at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; and Robert Meenan, MD, dean emeritus and professor in Boston University’s School of Public Health.