Teaching & Advising

For their exceptional teaching and student engagement, Paola Lopez-Duarte, Samantha Suptela and Lennin Caro have received the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ 2023 Excellence in Teaching Awards. Six other faculty were honored as finalists for three awards.

Heather A. Smith’s students and colleagues have long praised her generosity and inclusivity. For the exceptional way she mentors others, the UNC Charlotte geographer has received the 2023 Susan Hardwick Excellence in Mentoring Award from the American Association of Geographers. Smith’s professional interests and mentoring strengths have guided a generation of geography students who have carried the impact into other spaces and places.

Terry Shirley Jr., associate chair and senior lecturer in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, has earned the 2022 UNC Charlotte Award for Teaching Excellence. Students and colleagues describe Shirley as dedicated, innovative, and holding a passion for teaching and learning.

Susana Cisneros, ’09 M.A., sees the teaching of languages as a way to invite people to take a journey of self-exploration and join a collective learning experience. For the exceptional way that Cisneros guides language learners on their journeys, the Foreign Language Association of North Carolina presented her its 2022 Higher Education Teacher of the Year Award.

For their exceptional teaching and student engagement, Michael Walter, Alan Rauch, Tiffany Morin and Katie Kutcher have received the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ 2022 Excellence in Teaching Awards. Five additional faculty were honored as finalists.

Erin Basinger, associate professor of communication studies in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, is this year’s recipient of the Bonnie E. Cone Early-Career Professorship in Teaching. This annual award recognizes a faculty member who has demonstrated a commitment to teaching at the beginning of their academic career.

The latest U.S. News & World Report rankings place the Gerald G. Fox Master of Public Administration at #48 nationally, with the program moving into top 17 percent of all ranked public affairs programs. For UNC Charlotte’s nationally accredited MPA program, its ranking marks a 19% increase over last year’s results.

Creating classrooms that encourage a free exchange of ideas among students connects the six finalists for the 2020 UNC Charlotte Excellence in Teaching Awards. Five of the six finalists teach in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

In recognition of their exceptional teaching and abilities to connect with students, Didier Dréau, Angela Jakeway and Andrew Goff have received the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Excellence in Teaching Awards for the 2019-2020 academic year.

UNC Charlotte’s Master of Public Administration program is waiving its GRE requirement for Summer 2020 and Fall 2020 applicants, in response to the impact of COVID-19.