Student News

Teaching Effectiveness Awards for Graduate Student Instructors

Each year the Graduate Council's Advisory Committee for GSI Affairs and the GSI Teaching and Resource Center sponsor the Teaching Effectiveness Award (TEA). The TEA honors a small number of outstanding Graduate Student Instructors who have made a significant contribution to teaching and learning in their departments through their identification of and response to a problem that they have faced in their own classes, laboratories, and sections.

Graduate students who have received the Outstanding GSI Award in either of the two previous years are invited to submit an essay that describes a problem they have identified in teaching and learning, the teaching method, strategy, or idea they implemented to address the problem, and the means by which they addressed the effectiveness of the solution.

In reviewing submitted essays, the committee considers the nature of the problem identified, the appropriateness of the teaching solution, and the quality of evidence the GSI has gathered to determine the effectiveness of the solution. For more information see gsi.berkeley.edu/awards/tea_index.html.

Teaching Effectiveness Award for 2006

• Jason Ng
  In the photo above, Jason is shown second from the left, along with with Associate Dean of the Graduate Division, Joseph J. Duggan (far left) and Dean of the Graduate Division, Mary Ann Mason (third from left).

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award

The Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award provides campuswide recognition of excellence in teaching by Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs). Certificates of distinction and a spring award ceremony honor the recipients. (For more information, see Teaching Resource Center.) Criteria for selection include

• overall effectiveness as an instructor
• capacity to promote critical thinking
• skills in presenting course material
• utilizing pedagogically effective approaches, for example, collaborative learning, problem-based learning, and community-based learning
• skills in developing course materials that promote learning, for example, course syllabi, website, essay or exam questions, paper topics
• command of the subject area
• ability to motivate students
• engagement in departmental and campuswide activities that enhance teaching and learning

Evidence upon which to base the award might include the following:

• evaluations submitted by students
• letters of nomination by faculty or students
• classroom observations by faculty documentation of teaching excellence submitted by GSIs (e.g., course materials, a statement of teaching philosophy, a teaching portfolio)

Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Awards for 2005-06

• David Hoffman
• Ethan Rossi

One of the main purposes of the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) is to support eye and vision research with the goal of improving eye and vision care provided by optometrists to their patients. Among the approximately 5,000 members of the Academy are vision scientists, clinical researchers, optometrists in professional practice, leaders in optometry, and student members.

In an effort to promote its research aims and to infuse an appropriate mix of young members into the Academy, the AAO has established a program of student travel fellowships. These fellowships are designed to encourage optometry students, optometric residents, and students in eye and vision-related graduate programs to attend key national meetings and exchange scientific ideas on research. Eligible students are those who are currently enrolled full-time or have graduated/completed residency within a year of the meeting they wish to attend.

Each year the Academy offers a number of travel fellowships of $500 each for students to attend the annual meeting of the American Academy of Optometry (AAO) and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). Fellowships are awarded primarily for accomplishment and potential in optometric research and education. Academic abilities, including clinical abilities if relevant, are considered. For more, see Student Travel Fellowships.

Travel Fellowship Recipients for 2005

• Justin Ales
• Minjian Ni
• Varuna Padmanabhan