Karen Cunningham and Dana Cairns Watson receive Distinguished Teaching Award
Congratulations to our colleague, Karen Cunningham, who has received the Distinguished Teaching Award for Non-Senate Faculty. Dana Cairns Watson, a UCLA Ph.D. in English and Continuing Lecturer in Writing Programs and Electrical and Computer Engineering, has also received the Distinguished Teaching Award for Non-Senate Faculty. Karen and Dana are two of only three campus-wide recipients of this prestigious award. These awards recognize their superb accomplishments as teachers and their students’ and colleagues’ appreciation of their achievements and their commitment to excellence in writing.
Karen’s well-deserved reputation as one of the most inspiring teachers in the department’s core Medieval and Renaissance curriculum has been widespread among several generations of students, including those who have benefited from her careful mentoring in the department’s Honors Program. In recent years, Karen has directed her expertise in writing instruction toward developing an invaluable array of upper-division writing-intensive courses that for many students provides the missing link in their academic advancement and professionalization. Many thanks to the department’s Teaching Award Committee–Karen Rowe (chair nonpareil!), Michael Colacurcio, Matthew Fisher, and James Goodwin–for their careful preparation of the nomination materials.
Dana has developed a unique and timely profile at UCLA with a portfolio of courses that bridges North and South campus in innovative ways, with an abiding interest in science communication that includes interdisciplinary approaches to food, science and society, and health care. She has brought her instructional expertise to courses in public science writing in the Honors Colloquium, academic writing for the Electrical Engineering Ph.D. program, and core courses in Writing Programs.
Congratulations to Karen and Dana!