College Honors 2019-20 LeRoy and Elva Martin Award Recipients
Lisa Falk, teaching assistant professor in the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, and Caroline Proulx, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, have been honored by the College of Sciences with the 2019-20 LeRoy and Elva Martin Award for Teaching Excellence.
The Martin Award recognizes professors’ outstanding contributions to the College of Sciences’ teaching mission. The award was created in 2001 by the late LeRoy Martin Jr., a longtime mathematics professor at NC State, to honor his parents, Elva and LeRoy Martin.
Both Falk and Proulx have demonstrated a commitment to teaching, effective communication skills, an ability to engage students, and a positive and lasting impact on students and alumni. Edited excerpts from their nominations are below.
Lisa Falk teaches a range of foundational and advanced courses for the MEAS department, as well as the COS100 Science of Change course at the college level. She has developed an online version of MEA100 (Earth System Science), extending its reach to a larger group of students, and flexibly and innovatively uses technology tools to meet the needs of learners in her classes. Her interactive teaching methods and real-world projects reflect her passion, dedication and professionalism as a teacher who is truly concerned with providing a holistic education for students across the college.
Caroline Proulx employs active learning practices in her graduate and undergraduate organic chemistry classes that keep students engaged and critically challenged (even during 8:30 a.m. classes!), as reflected in her outstanding student evaluations. She has consistently displayed a compelling commitment to her teaching craft and to her students, nurturing critical thinking, maintaining rigor and considering the disparate learning needs of students ranging from sophomore undergraduate nonmajors to Ph.D. chemistry graduate students, while also building a successful research program in the chemistry department.
