The pandemic’s arrival in March 2020 caused major disruptions at Ohio State as faculty and staff rushed to transition from in-person instruction to remote learning. One minor disruption was to the department's annual teaching awards for graduate teaching assistants (GTAs). For students who are beyond their first year of teaching (there is a separate process for first-time GTAs), the Graduate Studies Committee (GSC) solicits nominations for the award and chooses finalists based on criteria such as department-administered SEIs. GSC faculty members visit three classrooms to observe the candidate's teaching and assigns rankings and comparisons. The committee usually schedules these visits following spring break, but with the transition to online instruction at spring break 2020, we were left without a contest.
Many of our TAs seek academic teaching positions after graduation, and we've always felt that winning a department TA award was a helpful credential. We feel our department's awards are particularly discriminating because they are based on actual observation of teaching, rather than on a portfolio of teaching statements and letters of recommendation from supervisors or students. So, the GSC was unhappy with the thought that we were going to miss a year. This spring, we found a solution to the problem by running two competitions at the same time. The 2021 competition was organized in the classical way: selecting finalists among nominees and observing their teaching. This spring, of course, classes were taught remotely, and we observed their Zoom lectures. We are pleased to congratulate the winners of this year's award: Shreeya Behera, Nick Geis and Deniz Genlik.
To make up for missing 2020, we ran a competition like those organized by the college and university. We solicited nominations and asked the finalists to submit a statement and a reference letter. Many of the letters commented on the extraordinary efforts our graduate students made to assist teaching during the pandemic, and it was difficult to narrow the field to three winners. They are Andrew Best, Andrew Castillo and Niko Schonsheck.
The Graduate Studies Committee applauds all the award winners and thanks all the candidates who shared their ideas with us and let us into their classrooms.
