UNC Teaching Award for Oliver-Hoyo; Professorships for Stefanski and Lloyd

Our faculty and staff are being recognized all over campus — and throughout the UNC System — for their valuable contributions to students, research and the NC State campus. Read about a few of the honors and awards they have received this spring.

Maria T. Oliver-Hoyo, professor in the Department of Chemistry, is NC State’s 2017 winner of the UNC System Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching. Recognizing that large-scale classrooms have a direct impact on positive teacher/student interaction, Oliver-Hoyo used the existing SCALE-UP format (Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs) in the College of Sciences to implement an activity-driven curriculum for General Chemistry. These hands-on, activity-rich and daily-life relevant activities have boosted student engagement, teacher/student interaction and enhanced student critical thinking skills in large-scale classes.

The College of Sciences has named Alun Lloyd of the Department of Mathematics as a Drexel Professor. The professorship was made possible by a gift from Drexel Enterprises, which is now called Drexel Heritage Furniture. Lloyd is a mathematical biologist who joined the NC State faculty in 2003. He develops mathematical models that describe the spread of infections through populations.

The College of Sciences has named Leonard “Len” Stefanski as the first R.A. Fisher Distinguished Professor in Statistics. The professorship was made possible through the financial contributions of dozens of NC State alumni and friends. Stefanski, a prominent statistician well-known for his work in measurement error modeling, joined the NC State faculty in 1986. He has also made important contributions in variable selection, biostatistics, generalized linear models, environmental statistics and other areas. He has served as interim head of the Department of Statistics since 2016.