The Committee on Teaching and Scholarship is pleased to announce that the 2020 Teaching Award winner is Tammy VanDeGrift, Shiley School of Engineering. She has been a champion of continuous improvement in teaching and student learning throughout her 15-year career at the University of Portland. Her focus on pedagogical approaches is not solely for her own teaching, but is a passion she shared by initiating Teaching and Learning Lunches and Teaching Circles within the Shiley School of Engineering, and as a generous mentor to many faculty across campus. VanDeGrift was in the first cohort of the UP REFLECT STEM Innovation project, where one peer observer noted, “Tammy is the living embodiment of an exemplary teacher, advancing student learning through skilled content organization that enables active engagement in the classroom.”VanDeGrift’s students express appreciation for the care she takes to create a positive learning environment tuned to their needs, and the lengths she goes to help them discern their interests and connect content to “real life” applications. Comments such as the following are indicative of the types of responses in her course evaluations: “Dr. VanDeGrift always has some way of teaching that always stays with the student. She upholds participation in a manner that isn’t filled with pressure which can be a really comfortable classroom experience. It was easy to learn hard topics thanks to the schedule and strategies used in this course.” Another colleague writes that, “She cares that her students not only learn computer science, but that all students learn and learn to be computer scientists with an understanding of their broader role in society.”
Education is also a key theme in VanDeGrift’s research, where she has made valuable contributions to her profession. She has over fifty peer-reviewed publications; many of these are related to computer science education and engineering education, including topics of student advising, retention, and diversity.
Please join in congratulating Tammy VanDeGrift on this latest honor!