FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Jenna Ashley Robinson
Ph: 919.828.1400
jarobinson@popecenter.org
Pope Center Honors UNC-Pembroke Professor for Excellence in Teaching
RALEIGH, December 2, 2011—The John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy awarded the center’s Spirit of Inquiry Award to University of North Carolina at Pembroke Professor John Parnell, Ph.D. at a dinner December 1. The award honors college instructors for outstanding teaching.
Professor Parnell was recognized for his course “Ethics and Capitalism,” taught in the Management-Marketing-International Business department at UNC-Pembroke.
Second- and third-place recipients are:
- John Brennan, Ph.D. of UNC-Wilmington for his course “Statistics for Public Managers and Policy Analysts”
- Kelly Hogan, Ph.D. of UNC-Chapel Hill for her course “Principles of Biology”
The goal of the Spirit of Inquiry Award is to find and recognize the best courses at colleges and universities in North Carolina—courses that expand students’ ability to think and express their ideas within the context of an academic discipline. Directed by Jenna Ashley Robinson, the Pope Center’s outreach coordinator, the project attracted 67 nominations from 11 North Carolina universities and two community colleges. Eight finalists were selected and a panel of judges chose the three winners.
“We feel that outstanding instructors rarely receive the praise they deserve,” said Robinson. “We honor these faculty members with modest monetary rewards but the recognition is most important.” The Spirit of Inquiry Award program is funded by a grant from the Broyhill Family Foundation located in Lenoir, North Carolina.
The judges for 2011 were:
- John Allison, Distinguished Professor of Practice at Wake Forest University Schools of Business
- J. Edgar Broyhill, President and Managing Director at The Broyhill Group
- Anne Neal, President of American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA)
- George Leef, Director of Research at the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy
- Abigail Thernstrom, Former Senior Fellow at Manhattan Institute
Students throughout the state nominate their professors using an online form. The requirements for nomination include:
- The instructor’s presentation of social and political issues is balanced and fair
- The classroom environment allows students to express ideas and encourages open investigation and inquiry
- Course material is interesting and rigorous
- The faculty member is responsive to students’ needs
The John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy is a nonprofit institute dedicated to improving higher education in North Carolina and the nation. It is located in Raleigh. For more information on the Center, visit www.popecenter.org.