Provost’s Awards recognize excellence in teaching, undergraduate advising and community engagement

The Department of Sociology in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences is the 2015 recipient of the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, and the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology received the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Academic Advising. Also, José Gámez, associate professor of architecture, was presented the Provost’s Faculty Award for Community Engagement.

In announcing Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, Joan Lorden, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs, lauded sociology faculty for establishing structures and practices that “maintain an intimate sociological community among students in a large and growing university.”

The Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching is granted annually to an academic department, office or program in recognition of the collective responsibility of faculty members for maintaining high-quality teaching and to acknowledge documented efforts that improve student learning and outcomes.

According to academic affairs, during the past 10 years, Department of Sociology has continuously taken innovative approaches to providing an engaging and well-rounded curriculum for students. To achieve this goal, the department has focused on new student engagement, written communication, honors education and international experiences. Also, the Department has worked diligently to assess and strengthen the curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Currently, the department is developing a capstone course and curriculum to launch fall 2016 that incorporates an e-portfolio element to track and access student performance and productivity over time.

The Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology was lauded for taking a “convocation to commencement” approach to advising, providing support to majors and minors academically, professionally and personally in order to help them achieve their fullest potential. In order to help students achieve their educational goals, the department restructured its administrative operations to include an undergraduate advising coordinator, ensuring that students know not only the requirements for the major or minor but are aware of activities which effect student engagement, student achievement and personal development. The department actively and routinely communicates to their pre-majors, majors, and minors through the use of the Banner system. Students can speak to departmental advisors on an individual basis by scheduling appointments, but group advising options are also popular.

Faculty Award for Community Engagement recipient Gámez also is director of the City.Building.Lab, the public outreach and research arm of the Master of Urban Design program. His research has involved interdisciplinary approaches to design and planning issues, including the impacts of the foreclosure crisis upon specific neighborhoods in Charlotte, the impacts of Latino immigration locally and the role of art-based initiatives in community organizing.

He has been a research fellow with the UNC Charlotte Institute for Social Capital and a faculty fellow with the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. Currently, he is a Provost Faculty Fellow for the 2015-16 academic year.

The architecture professor was honored for his work in the Community Planning Workshop, which he co-teaches with Janni Sorensen, a faculty member in the Department of Geography and Earth Sciences; his contributions to the Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Initiative; and his role in the development of the Mobile Arts and Community Experience (MAX) in the College of Arts + Architecture.

The Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching is supported by funds from the UNC Board of Governors. The department will receive a $5,000 award and a plaque commemorating its achievements in teaching. A $2,500 award accompanies the Provost’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Academic Advising, and there is a plaque commemorating the department’s achievements in undergraduate advising.