2007 College Awards

Staff-Administrative Award

Jeannette Lawler is the Physical Science 100 Course Coordinator and the Planetarium Supervisor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Each of these responsibilities could easily be a full-time assignment, but Jeannette has done an excellent job of balancing the demands of the two assignments in order to keep things progressing in both areas. She has played an important role as PS100 has transitioned to a new textbook. Jeannette wrote three chapters in the new book, revised the homework questions, and wrote new exams for use in the course. She also supervises the PS100 tutorial lab, where the student assistants have indicated their pleasure in working with her. During the recent construction of the new planetarium, Jeannette also had major responsibilities in the design and construction of the facility, overseeing many of the construction details and working out the specifications for the multimedia equipment that is used regularly for classroom presentations and planetarium shows. She currently teaches students and faculty to operate the planetarium facilities properly, and she also explores new ideas to more fully utilize the capabilities of the planetarium. Jeannette has been dedicated in her myriad responsibilities, and the department is fortunate to have her as a colleague.

Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award: Three to Ten Years at BYU

Steven Wood is a superior teacher, who is committed to excellence in teaching and is a model for his students in both faith and learning. He teaches a wide variety of courses, many of which are large and that students find especially daunting, but he excels and receives some of the highest student evaluations in the college, as well as high peer evaluations. He engages students with a variety of approaches, including demonstrations, specially composed poems, songs, and raps, and other creative educational enhancements. Humor is characteristic of Steve’s lectures, but the humor always serves to teach. Steve is himself an eager learner and provides a model of the educated person by his use of language, his general, persistent curiosity, and his pursuit of knowledge and understanding. Students give him high praise and frequently request that he be scheduled for the classes they plan to take next. His popularity is not because he lets students slide by with little effort. Instead, he holds himself and his students to high standards, and they perform exceptionally well according to external measures. Finally, in addition to teaching, Steve performs outstanding service to the department in several onerous and vexing assignments, but always with a positive attitude.

Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award: Ten or More Years at BYU

We are pleased to honor Professor Scott Ritter from the Department of Geological Sciences as the 2007 recipient of this “Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award.” This award is for someone with ten or more years teaching experience at BYU. Scott Ritter has consistently received some of the highest teaching evaluations in the college. Last semester was no different with Overall Instructor evaluations of 7.5 and 7.7, and one of these was a General Education class. Although many faculty members receive a few very flattering student comments, Scott regularly receives many, such as this one last semester: “Without a doubt, YOU are the GREATEST teacher on BYU campus!” One department colleague who is intimately familiar with Scott’s teaching noted that he always brings the students back to the core ideas as he wraps up his lectures. Students savor the exceptional new ideas they have just learned and are grateful they came to class. As another student noted: “He is always, ALWAYS well-organized and excited about his subjects. He's approachable and… a Fantastic teacher…” Congratulations, Scott, for showing us that it is possible to have high expectations even in courses with many students who are not majors in your department, to foster love and enthusiasm for the topic, and to maintain focus on the important concepts.

2006 College Awards

Administrative/Staff Employee

As the Business Manager, Guy Curtis takes a leadership role over all of the financial and student personnel systems in the department. Guy works directly with the Chemistry Central Stockroom, Chemicals Management Office, Purchasing Agent, Computer Support Office, Instrument Shop, and the Department Chair to manage the accounting and financial affairs of the department. He spends many hours after everyone else has gone home to insure that the budget is balanced and our financial records are accurate. As a member of the Department's Budget Committee, he developed new presentation charts to help us better understand our budget situation and more accurately forecast our needs. His leadership has been essential to the success of our Department's programs

During the past several years, Guy Curtis has made significant improvements in the Business Office in the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department. His accounting innovations are copied by the administrative personnel throughout the college and university. He is frequently asked to provide his expertise to solve accounting problems in other Departments. He is able to keep on tope of an incredible amount of detail generated in our $13 million per year research programs and academic efforts. He assisted with the development of a software requirements document for a new Chemistry Central Stockroom accounting and tracking system. He transitioned about 60 undergraduate students from contract employees to hourly at the request of the employment office. He developed a new imaging system to replace the hardcopy filing system we previously used. We appreciate Guy's efforts to improve the documentation and financial integrity of our department.

Guy makes himself available to all faculty throughout the year for financial assistance on their department accounts and with every faculty member individually near the end of the year to correct problems before the books are closed.

Because of Guy's experience with the accounting system, he is frequently asked to provide feedback on new software and administrative procedures being proposed by financial planners. He is a regular participant with the Financial Assistants Task Force. He represents our college to consult with the administration on changes to the University's accounting systems.

Guy has one of the most demanding jobs in the Department. If he is not ahead of the financial reporting changes then the entire department suffers. We are grateful for his dedication and long hours of service that have enabled our faculty and staff to perform their research and academic functions. Guy has done an outstanding job improving the operation of the accounting process and providing critical financial advice to our Department. We are grateful for his dedication and sacrifice that have enabled our faculty and staff to perform their research and academic functions.

Excellence in Teaching 3-10 Years

Mike Goodrich is consistently one of our very best teachers.His instructor ratings put him at top of the Department. The comments he receives from students are inspirational.He is very conscientious about his teaching.He carefully assesses student reviews of his teaching and then improves based on those suggestions.He works to get to know his students and gains their confidence as he strives to help them.He visits other classes and invites faculty to visit his classes in order to improve his techniques.His students know that he really cares about them and their opportunity to learn. In addition, Mike is an exceptional scholar and citizen in the University.He makes the Department and University better for being here and is a blessing to the students, his colleagues and the University mission.

Excellence in Teaching 10+ Years

Tyler Jarvis joined the Department of Mathematics in 1996 after completing a Ph.D. at Princeton under the supervision of Gerd Faltings and holding an assistant professorship at Mississippi State University. During his decade at BYU, Tyler has proven to be both an outstanding researcher and an exceptionally dedicated and successful teacher. Early in his career, Tyler taught several large sections of Calculus and studied the effect of class size on student learning and student perception of learning, with funding from the National Science Foundation. More recently, Tyler developed and has taught an Honors course entitled "Gambling and Risk", which considered the mathematics, history, and ethics of gambling. Several of Tyler's students in that course have presented related papers at professional conferences. Tyler has been active in mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students and in teaching a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses. We feel fortunate indeed to have such an excellent colleague!