The University Professor Award is one award that brings along an opportunity many professors do not have: teaching a class they created.
Each year, students nominate faculty members before OU’s University Professor Selection Committee selects four or five professors to receive the award. This year, the winners were James Petrik, Raymond Frost, Julia Paxton and Lauren McMills.
Petrik, an associate professor of philosophy, won the award for the second time in his 18 years at OU and will teach “Contemporary Philosophy of Religion” next winter.
“The significant role played by Ohio University undergraduates in the selection process makes the award particularly gratifying,” he said.
Petrik plans to have his class in seminar format with student discussions while talking about philosophical material from mid-century to present.
“We will be reading articles that engage issues and arguments for God’s existence and personal afterlife,” Petrik said.
Frost, a professor of management information systems, also won the award for the second time and will teach “Game Dynamics in Education.”
Students will be studying and examining whether educators can make the classroom a more engaging experience by using different game dynamics, Frost said.
“It will give students more of a sense of autonomy, mastery and purpose as they go about learning the material,” he said.
Frost said he has learned from the past that anything is possible when teaching these classes. His previous class was later incorporated into the business curriculum after it received positive results.
This year marks the first time Paxton, an associate professor of economics, won the award.
She will teach “The Economics of Altruism” and will examine altruism in many different ways both in class and out, Paxton said.
Students conduct tests involving altruism on campus, Paxton said, adding she is excited about the award because she was able to pick a topic that was completely new.
“It’s an opportunity to dig a lot deeper into a topic both I’m interested in and students on campus,” Paxton said.
McMills, an assistant professor of chemistry, is also receiving the award for the first time.
She will teach “Chemistry in the News” and will focus on current topics in chemistry such as energy, climate change and medicine.
McMills said she is used to teaching large lectures to first-year chemistry students and finds this as an opportunity to teach a smaller seminar-type class.
“I think a lot of students are very interested in the environment and energy issue that could make very good discussions,” McMills said.
Each professor’s course will be available starting Winter or Spring Quarter next year.
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