Ann Abbott Named "Distinguished Teacher Scholar" 2008-09


I am very honored to have received a University Distinguished Teacher/Scholar award for 2008-09. I feel that this is a chance to spotlight not just my Spanish community service learning program, but all the wonderful work that is being done with university-community partnerships on this campus.

This award will allow me to pursue a project next year: a series of community-university summits to promote dialogue and action about our teaching strategies and outcomes. I have proposed to form a Community Experts Committee comprised of local business, non-profit and civic leaders. They would speak at a series of four or five "summits" with themes such as community service learning, entrepreneurship, leadership, undergraduate research and communication skills. After each summit, faculty members would attend a follow-up session to de-brief and imagine ways to act upon the community committee's insights.

I'm also excited that the other award winner is from linguistics: Rajeshwari Pandharipande. It is a Foreign Language Building year!

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