ECU Professors honored for outstanding teaching

Eleven East Carolina University faculty members were recognized for their outstanding teaching at a campus ceremony Wednesday (April 30), earning applause and praise from their colleagues.

Bob Morrison, professor of chemistry and chair of the faculty, told the award winners and nominees, "We are inspired by your talent and your dedication. All of us aspire to be good teachers, but not as many of us rise to the level you have." Iona Poston of the Department of Parent Child Nursing was the winner of the Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, which carries a $7,500 cash prize.

Six faculty members received the Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching Award: Hubert Burden, anatomy and cell biology; Amy Carr-Richardson, theory, composition and musicology; Cheryl Estes, recreation and leisure studies; Carol Ferreira, community nursing systems; Sharon Haley, curriculum and instruction, and Phillip Pekala, biochemistry and molecular biology. Each received a $1,000 prize.

Charles Ewen, anthropology, and Christine Gustafson, instrumental music, won the University Award for Outstanding Teaching, and Haley won the Robert L. Jones Award for Outstanding Teaching. Those honors carry a $1,000 award. Recipients of the Max Ray Joyner Award for faculty service through continuing education were Evelyn Farrior, nutrition and hospitality management, and Diane Kester, librarianship, educational technology and distance instruction. Both received a $500 stipend and a $1,000 professional development fund.

Winners were nominated by their departments and chosen by committees of the Faculty Senate and the Board of Governors.