Virginia Tech will give Favorite Faculty Awards to faculty members who have been nominated by students for their excellence in teaching.
The awards are sponsored by the Office of Residence Life, a department within the Division of Student Affairs. The reception will be held April 7 for the student nominators and recipients.
James Penven, the associate director of residence life, said the awards have been put in place for students living on campus to nominate their favorite faculty members.
"We have put the voting in the hands of the students to be able to recognize their teachers," Penven said. "In January, we put out a marketing campaign for students to nominate their teachers on a survey site. Students can do this anonymously because sometimes they do not want their teachers to know that they nominated them."
George Simmons, a pre-dental adviser and biological sciences professor, said he was notified of his nomination through a letter he received in the mail.
"I got a letter from the organization saying that there was going to be a luncheon for all of the nominated teachers," Simmons said. "The student that nominated me was at the luncheon and it was a pleasure for her to nominate me. It was a young lady who became ill in our class one day due to low blood sugar or something of the kind, and I stayed with her until the emergency rescue officers came and made sure she was OK. When she came back to class, I wanted her to sit somewhere where I could keep an eye on her."
Simmons said he was honored when he learned of his nomination.
"The young girl felt like someone truly cared about her," Simmons said. "She was in a class of 400-plus students, so I felt as though she was very appreciative for what I had done for her."
Penven said students are able to nominate up to two professors for the award.
"We have some students that will nominate two people, but we have others that will just nominate one," Penven said. "We have seen several faculty members continually reappear in the nominations, and that truly speaks to the impact that they have had on the students."
Scott Geller, a psychology professor, is a recipient of a similar favorite faculty award given by the alumni association.
"Teaching is the best thing that I have had an opportunity to do," Geller said. "I am grateful to be working with students. I am going into my 40th year as a teacher, and I have received a lot of teaching awards, but even though I have, it is always such an honor that students still appreciate my teaching and they know that I really do care."
Geller said he is inspired to teach future leaders of our country.
"I believe that we have to love teaching because the students we teach are the people who will make our world run," Geller said. "Teaching is the way we leave a legacy. I think we live, love, learn and leave a legacy. I feel that we enable and teach our future leaders of this nation and beyond."
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