Four teachers from the SLCL were among those honored recently for excellence in teaching, mentoring and advising, collectively known as Campus Awards for Excellence in Instruction.
The four are: Brian Walters, Associate Professor of Classics; Dr. Eman Saadah, Director and Language Coordinator of Arabic, Department of Linguistics; Teresa Greppi, Teaching Assistant, Department of Spanish and Portuguese; and Ane Icardo Isasa, Teaching Assistant, Department of Spanish and Portuguese.
The Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching recognizes sustained excellence and innovative approaches in undergraduate teaching and contributions beyond classroom instruction that have an overall positive impact on undergraduate student learning. Honorees are represented in three employee categories – faculty, specialized faculty and teaching assistants – and each receives a monetary award.
The four SLCL teachers are listed below, as described by their nominators:
Walters, honored in the Faculty category, “is an outstanding and inspiring teacher who puts enormous effort into course design, materials, teaching research, responding to student writing and mentoring.” Walters’ students are actively engaged in his lectures and discussions. Part of what makes class discussion work so well is his extensive use of low-stakes writing assignments such as student journals. Walters draws on students’ journal comments to stimulate discussion, demonstrating that he takes their intellectual participation seriously and respects their ideas.
Greppi, honored in the Teaching Assistant category, is truly exceptional, both in her student evaluations and in the range of courses that she has been called upon to staff. She “is essentially a go-to resource that can be placed in whatever teaching context is most in need of her talents.” Greppi draws on her scholarly expertise and her pedagogical skills to offer an uncommonly transformative learning experience. She also served as a TA in gender and women’s studies, a highly competitive position.
Saadah and Isasa received the Illinois Student Government Teaching Excellence Award, which recognizes instructors for outstanding performance both in and out of the classroom. Honorees have demonstrated a commitment to teaching and to students in every capacity of their experience at Illinois. Saadah makes the challenge of learning a language such as Arabic seem simple and attainable. Her passion for the Arabic language and culture is infectious and visible in all aspects of her teaching. Saadah invests deeply within her students through constant efforts to formulate personal relationships, acting as a mentor throughout their language journey. Students laud Saadah’s willingness to go to out of her way to show that she cares for their success; they consider that feature an attribute that distinguishes her.
Icardo Isasa teaches a variety of courses. Students overwhelmingly highlight Icardo Isasa’s ability to cater and design the teaching methodologies to best fit the aptitudes of students to succeed. She sets the bar of expectation high, but with an enthusiasm and love for Spanish and teaching that makes it accessible. Her students remark on her charisma and friendliness in the classroom as carrying over to their broader life experiences in a way that makes her a lifelong mentor.