Lauren Burns wins PhD teaching award

Geography PhD student Lauren Burns won the university Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Instructor of Record Award for the 2024-25 academic year. This award recognizes graduate students performing all the responsibilities of a stand-alone Instructor fully in charge of the course.  Lauren has taught multiple sections of both ESCI 1101 (Physical Geography) and METR 1102 (Introduction to Meteorology) over the last several semesters. Department Associate Chair Terry Shirley was quoted during the ceremony as saying “By using a variety of demonstrations and technologies, she has the rare ability to engage students in 200+ student classroom settings; she gets conversations and ideas flowing; she has an infectious passion for the subject matter that keeps students’ attention; her philosophy is student centered and brings energy and positivity to the teaching of complex scientific principles.”

Congratulations Lauren!

A full description of the award can be found here.