Psychology professor Kimberly Buch is one of five finalists for the 2013 Bank of America (BofA) Award for Teaching Excellence – UNC Charlotte’s top teaching honor. This year’s recipient will be announced at a reception scheduled for Friday, Sept. 20. Inside UNC Charlotte will feature each finalist in alphabetical order prior to the reception.
Buch, a faculty member in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, defines her teaching goals by her ability to become a “facilitator of learning” for her students. This philosophy has been a driving force of Buch’s research, teaching and service practices since joining UNC Charlotte in 1987.
As a teacher, advisor and mentor, Buch noted her goal is to facilitate the learning, growth and individual development of her students. “Our students’ learning and development should be the true measure of our success not our own engaging, entertaining or even enlightened teaching.”
For Buch, this means providing quality classroom and out-of-class educational experiences, being sensitive and responsive to differences in learning styles, staying abreast of disciplinary developments and curricular innovation and being an approachable educator and advisor to students.
To successfully facilitate student learning inside the classroom, Buch uses technological tools and practices a variety of active-learning strategies, including collaborative and service learning. Not only does she demonstrate a commitment to implement these techniques in the classroom, Buch shares these approaches with colleagues. She has made significant contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning through numerous publications, and, starting this fall, Buch will serve a two-year term as a faculty fellow in UNC Charlotte’s Center for Teaching and Learning, where she will work with faculty interested in exploring innovative teaching and learning practices.
Equally significant to Buch’s teaching success is her commitment to engage students outside the classroom. Buch has served as chair of 70-plus graduate thesis committees, supervised more than 60 undergraduate research projects and managed internship placements for greater than 50 graduate and undergraduate students. Relationships developed with students have resulted in more than 40 jointly authored professional presentations and publications.
The successful Psychology Learning Community (PLC) created and coordinated by Buch for 10 years incorporates service learning into the experience. In addition, Buch was instrumental in the development and implementation of a new interdisciplinary urban youth and communities minor which, through civic engagement and service learning, prepares UNC Charlotte students to become informed and engaged citizens. Her work on practices and pedagogies of student engagement led to Buch’s invitation to serve on the Prospect for Success development team.
Well-known for engaging students in community issues and partnerships, Buch is the faculty advisor for Niner Neighbors, a student-led organization that provides temporary housing for the homeless. She also is actively involved with one of the University’s most visible campus-wide community service initiatives, Stop Hunger Now.
“Kim has taught our students to be engaged learners and good citizens of their community,” said Fary Cachelin, chair of psychology. “She teaches students that learning is more than grades and assignments—that true learning is growing through life-changing experiences like studying abroad or impacting the lives of others and one’s community through service.”
For her commitment to student learning, Buch has received the Student Support Services Outstanding Faculty Award and the McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program’s Outstanding Mentor Award.