Emily Gonzales, interim director of the Mines Alumni Association, congratulates Alumni Teaching Award recipient Pat Kohl. (Danelle Herra)
Each year, the Alumni Association recognizes two professors for their superior teaching at the undergraduate level through the CSM Alumni Teaching Award, which includes a $2,500 grant. The 2015 recipients were selected from nominations by department heads, with input from faculty members, students, and alumni.
We would like to congratulate this year’s winners: Pat Kohl from the Physics Department and Matthew Liberatore from the Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE) Department.
Kohl is responsible for creating environments that help disseminate best practices across campus and was one of the first faculty members at Mines to pioneer a flipped classroom methodology. ‘He combines a gift for teaching with an insight for effective innovations in teaching practice,’ said Reuben Collins, a physics professor at Mines. (To read about Kohl�s Studio Physics classes, please click here).
Terry Parker, executive president and provost at Mines, congratulates Alumni Teaching Award recipient Matthew Liberatore. (Mark Ramirez)
Similarly, Liberatore is known for his ability to make course material come alive. ‘His primary pedagogical innovation has been the use of web-based tools [such as YouTube Fridays and personalized homework] in the CBE Department’s energy balances, thermodynamics, and transport courses,’ said David Marr, department head of the CBE Department. Liberatore also recently published an interactive e-textbook titled Fundamentals of Material and Energy Balances.
It is the Alumni Association’s hope that this award provides encouragement for teaching achievement and that current students will continue to experience exceptional instruction, helping to shape them into motivated and successful Orediggers for life.
Any full-time permanent academic faculty member who teaches at the undergraduate level is eligible for nomination for this award.
