2007 Honors and Awards: Josiah Meigs Teaching Professors
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| Three of UGA’s outstanding teachers were named Josiah Meigs Teaching Professors at the Faculty Recognition Banquet
April 12 at the Georgia Center for Continuing Education Conference Center and Hotel. The professorship recognizes excellence in instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Meigs Professors receive a permanent salary increase of $6,000 and
a fund of $1,000 for academic support. The professorship is named for Josiah Meigs, who in 1801 succeeded Abraham Baldwin as president—and sole professor—of Georgia’s fledgling state university. |
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C. Ronald Ellington
Holder of the Cleveland Distinguished Chair of Legal Ethics and Professionalism
By Heidi Murphy |
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Ron Ellington |
An extraordinarily gifted teacher. The best teacher I’ve ever had at any level of school. Without equal in ability to stimulate learning. A rare teacher of unsurpassed excellence. The most caring, dedicated and accomplished of all my professors.
All of these phrases have been used to describe one person—C. Ronald Ellington.
Ellington arrived at the School of Law 38 years ago. Throughout his teaching tenure, which includes serving as law school dean from 1987 to 1993, these expressions, provided by both his professorial peers and countless students, have been used to depict this teacher, who has been the recipient of numerous teaching honors during his career.
When evaluating Ellington as a UGA Senior Teaching Fellow, Ronald D. Simpson, professor emeritus and former director of the Office of Instructional Development, said, “The class session was riveting! Watching him ask a series of well-constructed questions—designed to ‘lead’ the student to a thorough understanding of the class objectives for that day—was a sight to behold. We were all in awe of his magnificent (and somewhat magical) power to make things come alive in the classroom.”
Also regarding Ellington’s unwavering excellence in the classroom, 2004 law school alumnus Christopher C. Frost said, “Even after decades as a law professor, Professor Ellington continues to better himself as a lawyer and as a teacher. His pursuit of and dedication to quality instruction requires no less. Resisting the temptation to rest on his considered experience in the field, Professor Ellington remains curious about the ‘why’ and works to keep himself keenly abreast of the latest cutting-edge legal issues. . . Professor Ellington’s pace for his students pushed us well beyond rote memory and glib understanding and well into application, correlation and the symbiotic interaction of many disciplines with the legal field and beyond.”
One goal of every accomplished teacher is to have a lasting impact on his or her students. For Ellington, it has been said that his former students carry his “mark.” Former student William A. Gillon, a 1983 graduate, said, “While he is truly an exceptional teacher of civil procedure, he is a greater teacher in the deeper issues of life, and he worked diligently both in and out of class to ensure that his students not only understood the law, but that they understood and accepted their individual responsibility to the law and to the legal system. I would not be the attorney or the person I am if not for the influence of Professor Ron Ellington.”
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Michael A. Tarrant
Professor of Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism
By Eugene MacIntyre |
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Michael Tarrant |
It is not hard to understand why Michael Tarrant is quite popular among students who enroll in his classes, as many of those classes are based in some of the most spectacular geographic locations on Earth.
Whether breathing the thin air on top of the Southern Alps mountain range on the south island of New Zealand, snorkeling coral reefs vibrant with aquatic life in the balmy blue waters of the South Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea or floating alongside icebergs and physically seeing how climate change is altering the landscape of Antarctica, Tarrant truly takes his students to the ends of the Earth and back.
Don’t let these descriptions leave the impression that his classes are some kind of paid vacation, however. While some can be expensive, with travel half-way around the world for weeks at a time, Tarrant is teaching his students about concepts they could never truly learn inside a classroom.
“Mike’s teaching style has been centered around integration of theory and practice,” said Uttiyo Raychaudhuri, a former student of Tarrant’s and now associate director of the UGA Studies-Abroad in the South Pacific and Caribbean Program, created by Tarrant in 2001. “Using his own vast global experiences, which are reinforced with scholarly writings, his students are introduced to theories with learning styles that are reinforced by real-life experiences and examples.”
“Mike also uses cutting-edge technology in the design and delivery of instruction from interactive DVDs to Web-cast lectures that have taken his classroom beyond the walls of the Warnell School and UGA,” Raychaudhuri added.
Following traditions developed centuries ago within his native British culture, Tarrant is truly an explorer at heart. Whether exploring environmental conditions around the globe or the latest teaching technologies to further enhance his students’ learning experience, Tarrant is always in search of ideas that are new, fresh and relevant to the teaching of human dimensions of natural resources.
Tarrant’s leadership and outstanding teaching programs resulted in the creation of a new natural resource recreation and tourism major at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources in 2006. This new major is important for the school’s teaching program. “We are finally including a human dimensions approach to studying and teaching natural resource conservation that supports and augments the traditional science and management programs already incorporated into the Warnell School’s curriculum,” said David Newman, associate dean of academic affairs.
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David Williams
Professor of Religion and Director of the Honors Program
By Philip Lee Williams |
Few professors at UGA are busier than David Williams.
As a professor of religion in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Honors Program, he is deeply involved with students all day, and present and former students rank him among the best professors of their college careers.
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David Williams |
A faculty member here since 1989, Williams has won virtually every available teaching award and has taught about 100 courses, not including evening courses and directed readings.
“He is widely known on campus for his pedagogical gifts and leadership,” said Sandy Martin, head of the department of religion. “His innovative course on the Holocaust, which features an array of media as well as research and writin
g projects, is one of the most popular courses on campus.”
Williams is one of the rare UGA faculty members who began here, earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees before heading to Hebrew Union College where he earned M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees. He returned to Athens and worked his way up the academic ladder, achieving the rank of full professor in 2000. He served as head of the religion department from 2002–2004, when he took over as director of the Honors Program.
Despite the engaging but demanding duties, he has continued to teach undergraduate and graduate classes and has stayed productive as a scholar with an international reputation. In fact, he has directed or been on the committees of s
ome 40 percent of all graduate theses in the department of religion since he joined it.
“I can honestly say I have had no finer professor [at UGA] than Dr. Williams,” one student wrote. “His concern for the student is genuine, and he frequently goes above and beyond to make the classroom experience for his students more interesting and engaging . . . His ability to stimulate students intellectually is unrivaled.”
He has produced a considerable body of classroom materials, including “Teaching the Dead Sea Scrolls.” Materials he developed about the Holocaust are widely used by secondary school teachers in the Southeast.
Williams’ research has deeply enriched his teaching, and he is the author of two books and three Biblical commentaries, as well as numerous journal articles and other publications. He is currently working on a third book, a history of religion in Georgia.
“Dr. Williams has high standards, but he is very helpful and encouraging,” said another student. “He inspires you to learn and what’s even better, to think.” |
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Creative Research Awards
Creative Research Medals
Distinguished Research Professors
Inventor's Award
Richard B. Russell Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching |
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