AUS professors honored for excellence in teaching

American University of Sharjah (AUS) recently honored fourmembers of faculty with the Excellence in Teaching Award for the academic year 2010-2011. The recipients were Dr. Pernille Arenfeldt, from the College of Artsand Sciences; Dr. Martin Giesen, of the College of Architecture, Art andDesign; Dr. Michael Malcolm from the School of Business and Management; and Dr.Fadi Ahmed Aloul, of the College of Engineering.

The Excellence in Teaching Award honors a member of facultywho has made the most significant contribution to the quality of instructionwithin the college. Each college and school was charged this year with the taskof establishing a process for identifying an individual faculty member whosework reflected the highest standards of excellence in teaching. The competitionalso involved students in the selection process to choose the four winners, asis fitting in a competition to identify excellence in teaching.

Eligibility requirements included the faculty member beingat AUS for at least three years with 2010-2011 being their fourth year and allfaculty applying for the award had to provide sufficient documentation tosupport their candidacy.

"The four teaching awards were created as a way toacknowledge individual examples of excellence in the classroom and laboratory,and in so doing, to honor in a virtual sense the contributions of all facultyas teachers and mentors of our students," AUS provost, Thomas J. Hochstettler,said today.

"The AUS Faculty Senate has been advocating the creation ofawards for faculty excellence as a way to celebrate particularly outstandingexamples of innovation and engagement in teaching, research, and service. Suchprizes have been granted before in the history of the university, and theadministration has been very pleased this year to reintroduce the practice ofpublicly acclaiming examples of high achievement and distinction among ourfaculty," added Hochstettler.