E-Council lauds teachers


Three faculty members, three TAs recognized

Throughout a semester students seize upon many opportunities to embarrass their favorite teachers with heartfelt encomium and affectionate teasing. The Engineering Council, or E-Council, has advanced this idea by giving students another opportunity to lavish accolades and raillery on their teachers, and to do so publicly.

The Engineering Council has given Excellence in Teaching Awards each semester since the fall of 1988. The spring ceremony for the fall 2001 awards may have been especially spruced up for special guest President Shirley Tilghman, but the E-Council’s usual jocundity remained unchanged.

The E-Council Excellence in Teaching Awards were bestowed upon faculty members Clarence Rowley ’95, Kyle Vanderlick, and Ed Zschau ’61, and teaching assistants Robert Dondero, Leonard Pease, and Koray Simsek.

Faculty
Assistant Professor Clarence Rowley wasted no time winning his first teaching award. He arrived at the School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) in September, and was honored for teaching MAE433: Automatic Control Systems, his very first course as professor. He cotaught with Professor Michael Littman.

According to the students, “Professor Littman sometimes said that Rowley had figured out a clearer way to explain something in half a lecture, that would normally take him two lectures.”

Students praised Professor Rowley’s attentiveness and approachability.

“I don’t know why Professor Rowley has a door,” said one student, “because it’s always open.”

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski
Pictured at the E-Council Teaching Awards ceremony are, from left, Professor Ed Zschau, SEAS Dean James Wei, President Shirley Tilghman, Professor Kyle Vanderlick, and Assistant Professor Clarence Rowley.

“Professor Rowley is a jovial guy. He’s not intimidating in any way. He’s always available for help,” one student said, wryly adding, “He also has a silky smooth poise that drives the ladies wild.”

A mildly blushing Professor Rowley graciously accepted his award.

“The first thing I want to do is acknowledge Professor Mike Littman,” he said. “This is far more a tribute to him, than to me. He was just the perfect mentor. He gave me the freedom to do things the way I wanted to, but guided me when I needed help. But most of all, I want to thank the students, who made it such a joy to teach.”

Professor Kyle Vanderlick won her first E-Council teaching award for CHE245: Introduction to Chemical Engineering Principle. Students had glowing things to say about her, praising her for inviting guest speakers into class to give students’ a clearer picture of life and work outside the University.

“Her enthusiasm and talent for teaching are unparalleled,” one student said.

“It is apparent that Professor Vanderlick loves what she does,” said another student, “and she conveys that love to her students.”

Professor Vanderlick thanked her students for the “great honor” and also took the time to thank the E-Council in particular for giving the awards.

“It’s especially gratifying to get an award from a grassroots organization, and I know you guys put in a lot of work making this happen, and that makes it ever more special.”

Professor Ed Zschau ’61 won his fourth Excellence in Teaching award for ELE491: High-Tech Entrepreneurship. Student comments painted a picture of Professor Zschau as a guru, improving both their minds and their souls.

“While I can say that his class will be among my top academic experiences,” said one student, “I can also say it will be one of my top personal growth experiences.”

“I’ve never met a professor so dedicated to his students,” said another. “He would always tell us after breaks that he’d missed us, and that we added a great amount of joy to his life.”

Another student said succinctly, “Ed Zschau is the bomb.”

Professor Zschau expressed his appreciation with his usual eloquence, stating, “As my students know, I do what I do here, hoping to touch their lives in some small way, but quite frankly, it’s they who touch mine. It’s really the students doing their job that made the magic happen, and we experienced it together.”

Teaching Assistants
Robert Dondero was honored for his work in COS217: Introduction to Programming Systems, and student comments praised his organized and methodical teaching style as well as his devotion to the students’ learning, stating that he checked the classroom newsgroup at least three times a day to answer questions.

One simply said that he “is the best teacher I’ve ever had at Princeton. I think he’s a model teacher that other preceptors should look up to.”

Since Mr. Dondero could not be present to claim his award, Professor Larry Peterson accepted on his behalf, and was applauded for hiring such a talented TA.

Approachability was the quality students appreciated most about Leonard Pease, who was honored for CHE345: Thermodynamics. They never thought twice about asking him for help.

“Leonard was the nicest, friendliest TA I’ve ever had, and most in touch with the undergrads,” said one student. “He was so helpful. I wouldn’t have survived the course without him.”

Mr. Pease thanked his students, Professor Dudley Saville, his parents, and his adviser Professor William Russel “for giving me the little bit of extra time and understanding when my research wasn’t done quite as fast as it probably had to be.”

Koray Simsek’s class seemed to be not only his students but also his biggest fans. Ebullient cheers from the back of the room followed his name when he was given the award for ORF311: Optimizing Under Uncertainty.

Students commented that Mr. Simsek modeled his teaching style in order to complement, not mimic, the professor’s, so students could absorb the course material in different ways.

“Koray explained all of our optimization questions frequently with interesting and entertaining examples,” said one student. “He designed a decision tree to tackle ‘one of the classic optimization problems,’ as he described it—the KDP, or Koray Dating Problem. He was honestly the best preceptor I’ve had in the engineering school.”

Mr. Simsek was humbled by the honor, saying, “I really don’t know how I can explain how important this is for me. I really had so much fun TAing 311. I guess my buddies realize that I will really miss them, so they gave me this award to remember them.”

To top off the afternoon, the E-Council presented a plaque to SEAS Dean James Wei, whose term ended in June, to thank him for his service to the council over the years. President Tilghman thanked Dean Wei as well.

“I begin by congratulating myself,” she said, “because I was on the search committee that identified Dean Wei as a candidate for the dean. We were seeking someone who would bring the engineering school to the next level. On all fronts, Dean Wei has succeeded in doing this.”

President Tilghman also thanked the E-Council and all the award winners. “I think this is a wonderful occasion,” she said. “I commend all of you for taking teaching as seriously as I think all of us believe it should be taken.”

Photo by Frank Wojciechowski
Pictured at the E-Council Teaching Awards ceremony are, from left, Koray Simek, SEAS Dean James Wei, President Shirley Tilghman, and Leonard Pease.