79 outstanding UT System professors claim a share of $2 million teaching awards

 AUSTIN – University of Texas System faculty who inspire their students and excel in the classroom will each receive a $25,000 cash award from Board of Regents for excellence and innovation.

This year, 79 educators across the System’s 15 academic and health institutions will receive the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards. Totaling roughly $2 million, the award is the most prestigious teaching prize in the UT System, and based on the dollar amount, is among the largest teaching awards programs in the country.

Since 2008 when the awards were created, the Regents have awarded more than $15 million to recognize faculty members who delivered the highest quality of instruction in the classroom, laboratory, field and online.

“These impressive educators are responsible for preparing the next generation of great leaders,” Regents Chairman Paul Foster said. “No other university system in the nation is making this kind of an investment in rewarding outstanding faculty. The efforts of these faculty members significantly enhance the educational experiences of our students, and the UT Board of Regents is pleased to have this opportunity to honor them.”

This year’s honorees will be recognized at an awards ceremony in Austin on Aug. 19.

A complete list of winners can be found on the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards website.

Rebecca Rossen, Ph.D., an associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance at UT Austin, said receiving the award is a tremendous honor. She has been teaching college students for 22 years and her students have been and will continue to be her inspiration, she said.

“The students keep me passionate about my job,” said Rossen, who teaches dance history. “Every time I bring new material to the students, they come up with a new interpretation that I hadn’t thought of before and it’s just so satisfying to watch them grow and change.”

Rossen’s classroom is always dynamic, engaging, and above all else, fun, said Alexa Capareda, a former student who graduated from UT Austin earlier this year. Rossen is a brilliant researcher, an expert in the field and has immersed herself in the world of dance, said Capareda, who now works at Ballet Austin.

“She brings a real tangible knowledge to her students. Knowing that she’s personally very connected with the dance world helps the students take comfort in knowing they’re talking to a genuine expert,” Capareda said. “They’re really excited about it because she is. She has wonderful influence and wonderful energy in class.”

The Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards recognize tenured, tenure-track and other instructional faculty for their outstanding teaching, mentoring, personal commitment to students and the learning process as well as motivating students in the classroom.

Recipients are vetted rigorously by their colleagues, students and UT presidents before advancing to competition at the System level.

In their evaluations of a candidate’s teaching performance, members of the review panel consider a range of activities and criteria, including classroom expertise, curricula quality, innovative course development and student learning outcomes.

Pedro Mancias, M.D., an associate professor of pediatric neurology at UTHealth in Houston, grew up in the Rio Grande Valley and worked in the cotton fields of North Texas as a child to help his family make ends meet. Today, he’s an accomplished physician, an assistant dean at UTHealth, and now, a winner of a Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award.

His background serves him well as an assistant dean who is focused on student affairs, diversity and inclusion, he said.

“We need to show students that success should not just be possible, but highly probable with potential, motivation, hard work and with proper support and guidance,” he said. “The honor of being selected as a recipient of the UT Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award has been another important milestone in my journey from a field of cotton to a field in neurology.”

About The University of Texas System

Educating students, providing care for patients, conducting groundbreaking basic, applied and clinical research and serving the needs of Texans and the nation for more than 130 years, The University of Texas System is one of the largest public university systems in the United States. With nine academic universities, six health institutions and an enrollment of more than 217,000, the UT System confers more than one-third of the state’s undergraduate degrees, educates almost two-thirds of the state’s health care professionals annually and accounts for almost 70 percent of all research funds awarded to public institutions in Texas. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $15.6 billion (FY 2015) including $3 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. With about 20,000 faculty – including Nobel laureates – and more than 70,000 health care professionals, researchers, student advisors and support staff, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state.