Dr Sharmistha Basu-Dutt, associate professor of chemistry and engineering studies coordinator at the University of West Georgia, won two honours recently for her innovative teaching techniques and passion and dedication for students.
Dr Basu-Dutt has been selected to receive the top 2007 Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, and the First-Year Student Advocate Award from the EXCEL Center for Academic Success at UWG.
She was one of the four University System of Georgia faculty members chosen for the excellence in teaching award that recognises outstanding teaching that significantly improves student achievement.
The University System of Georgia's Board of Regents was created in 1931 as part of a reorganisation of Georgia's state government.
The Board oversees 35 colleges and universities: Four research universities, two regional universities, 13 state universities, seven state colleges, and nine two-year colleges. These institutions enroll more than 2,60,000 students and employ approximately 11,000 faculty and 28,600 staff to provide teaching and related services to students and the communities in which they are located.
'Known for her innovative teaching techniques, Basu-Dutt is a master at collaborative and cooperative learning, inquiry-based learning, integrative teaching, and activities-based interdisciplinary approaches,' the Board noted.
'The energy and enthusiasm she brings to the classroom helps students find meaningful connections between abstract ideas and practical applications to the real world. Her collaboration with elementary school teachers is designed to help them inspire young kids to develop a passion for science,' the Board said.
Each award winner will receive $5,000 (Rs 2 lakh) and a certificate of achievement. The individual honorees will receive their awards at the USG Foundation's Fourth Annual Regents' Awards for Excellence in Education Celebration in March. The regents will salute the administrators responsible for the winning academic program at a forthcoming meeting of the Board of Regents.
Very few teachers at the university level receive this honor, according to UWG.
A panel of department chairs and faculty members from across the University System of Georgia review portfolios on each nomination and are rigorous in their choices.
In their assessment, the review panel wrote that Dr Basu-Dutt is a 'master at collaborative and cooperative learning, inquiry-based learning, integrative teaching and activities-based interdisciplinary approaches.'
She received a unanimous recommendation from the panel for the award. As a chemistry professor and director of engineering studies, Dr Basu-Dutt said one of her goals at West Georgia is to provide exemplary learning and research opportunities to the students and to the community.
"As a teacher, I yearn to ensure that the quest for knowledge does not go away for my students after graduation. If my students leave class with eternal thirst for learning, I feel I have done my job," she told Rediff India Abroad.
"Over the last ten years, my career as a science/engineering educator at the University of West Georgia and my passion for teaching and learning has allowed me to interact with students of various career interests and calibers. I have thoroughly enjoyed developing courses and curriculum that challenges the motivated student with a well focussed engineering/science career goal," she said.
"Every second I invest in instilling confidence in the elementary school teacher appears worthwhile when I see an improvement in attitudes towards science teaching and learning in the classroom," she said, adding, "My priority is to find ways to connect to a diverse student population so that they can learn concepts and techniques that will open doors of opportunity for them throughout their lives."
Dr Basu-Dutt, who began teaching at UWG in 1997, has coordinated several interdisciplinary projects in engineering studies with students and fellow professors. She has also collaborated with the College of Education and developed workshops for local K-12 teachers in the area of learning and teaching science in the classroom.
The First-Year Student Advocate Award from the EXCEL Center for Academic Success was an honour from her students and her peers. The annual award is presented to a professor who provides exemplary support to freshmen. EXCEL Center is devoted to the success and welfare of all UWG students and serves as a resource center to parents.
As a mentor in the EXCEL Center, Dr Basu-Dutt provides students with advice and assistance on becoming a successful student. Marc Baumgardner, a West Georgia graduate, benefited from that advice.
'Much of my success in both the academic and non-academic arenas I attribute to the mentorship, guidance, instruction and friendship of Dr Basu-Dutt,' said Baumgardner, adding, 'She was never too busy to answer any question, her door was never closed and there seemed to be no limit to the lengths she would go to for her students.'
'The driving force for all my endeavours has been to connect with my students in a way that is above and beyond being just a professor in a classroom,' said Dr Basu-Dutt.
'I want to be an advisor and confidant who they feel comfortable coming to after class and many years after graduation.'
She has been recognised in the Who's Who Among American Teachers in 2005 and with the Honors Faculty of the Year Award in 2003 UWG. She also won two awards for teaching excellence from Wayne State University.
After her schooling at St Joseph's Convent, Chandannagar, West Bengal, and Lady Brabourne College, Kolkata, she earned her BSc from Jadavpur University, India, 1987, and her PhD from Wayne State University, both in chemical engineering, in 1995.
