The event recognizes faculty achievement through a variety honors, including the Great Teacher Award, Faculty Research and Creative awards, Lindback Foundation awards, the Provost’s Award for Innovative Teaching in General Education and several achievement awards.

This year’s recipients of the prestigious Great Teacher Award, which honors outstanding teaching and recognizes the vital connection between excellence in teaching and scholarship, are Maria L. Fornatora, associate professor of oral maxillofacial pathology at the Kornberg School of Dentistry; Daniel P. Tompkins, chair of the Department of Greek and Roman Classics in the College of Liberal Arts; and Christine A. Woyshner, associate professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology in the College of Education. Each will each receive a commemorative sculpture, a $15,000 award and will have their names etched into the wall of Founder’s Garden.

Faculty members can be nominated for a Great Teacher Award by administrators,

students or department chairs. The nominations are evaluated on the quality

of their teaching and creativity as shown through student course evaluations, peer

reviews, seminar presentations and related work.

The nominations include extensive evaluation of the faculty member’s commitment to excellence and originality in teaching, effective relationships with students, outstanding performance in meeting a wide range of teaching responsibilities and leadership in teaching-related activities outside the classroom.

Also to be recognized at the ceremony are winners of the university’s research

and creative achievement awards and winners of the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. Recipients include Steven Newman and Lawrence Venuti, of the College of Liberal Arts; Shohreh Amini and Zoran Obradovic, of the College of Science and Technology; Catherine V. Coyle, of the College of Health Professions; Terell L. Stafford, of the Boyer College of Music and Dance; and Jay Rappaport, of the School of Medicine.

In addition, this year for the first time three faculty will receive the Provost’s Award for Innovative Teaching in General Education, which recognizes excellence in course development and teaching in the university’s core curricular program. The honor will go to Jonathan E. Nyquist, of the College of Science and Technology; and John F. O’Hara and Ralph F. Young, both of the College of Liberal Arts.

The event honoring Temple’s best teachers has taken place annually since 1988. To register for this year's ceremony, call 215-204-1636 or e-mail specialevents@temple.edu by April 20.