Master's and doctoral GTAs selected for university's Graduate Student Teaching Excellence awards
Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2015
MANHATTAN — Two Kansas State University graduate students are recipients of the Graduate Student Council Award for Graduate Student Teaching Excellence.
Sponsored by the Graduate Student Council, this award recognizes graduate teaching assistants who have excelled in classroom teaching and serves to promote awareness of the important contributions graduate students make to the scholarship of the university. The recipients will represent the university as the doctoral and master's nominees for the Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools, or MAGS, Excellence in Teaching Award.
The doctoral GTA award winner is Chelsea Schnabelrauch Arndt, doctoral student in psychological sciences, Pinckney, Michigan. Her adviser is Laura Brannon, professor of psychological sciences. The master's GTA award winner is Katrina Hanna, master's student in communication studies, Perryville, Arkansas. Her adviser is Soo-Hye Han, assistant professor of communication studies.
"Looking back on my journey so far through graduate school, I think the most important thing that set me up to win this award is that I jumped at every opportunity that was given to me to teach and improve my teaching," Arndt said. "I've never turned down a chance to teach, and I sought out opportunities to teach when ones weren't offered to me."
"Being a graduate teaching assistant at K-State has opened a space for me to think critically about the opportunities that I wish to afford to my students," Hanna said. "During my time, I have learned that inflexibility with students is not a virtue. If you show them that you are willing to work with them, the majority of the time they will reciprocate that effort."
A master's student and a doctoral student are selected for the Graduate Student Council Award for Student Teaching Excellence each year. Each award recipient receives a $500 scholarship, and his or her name and department are engraved on a perpetual plaque to be displayed in the student's department until the next award is given.
"Chelsea and Katrina are outstanding examples of the quality of teaching and mentoring that our GTAs provide K-State undergraduates," said Carol Shanklin, dean of the Graduate School. "I am honored that they will be representing our GTAs as K-State's nominees in the MAGS competition."
The MAGS Excellence in Teaching awards were created to recognize the importance of excellence in teaching and mentoring as a component of graduate education and the preparation of graduate students for future service as college and university faculty. Arndt and Hanna will compete for a $750 honorarium that will be presented at the 72nd annual MAGS meeting, April 5-8, 2016, in Chicago. One master's student and one doctoral student are selected for the MAGS award.
Since the MAGS Excellence in Teaching Award was established in 2011, Kansas State University has had three winners.
The Midwestern Association of Graduate Schools is a regional affiliate of the Council of Graduate Schools. The association's member colleges and universities are accredited institutions of higher education in the central U.S. that offer graduate programs leading to masters, specialist and doctorate degrees.
