B Y - T O M - D Y E R

1. Named for UGA's second president, the Josiah Meigs Award for Teaching Excellence carries a permanent salary increase of $6,000 for up to five faculty members per year. 2. History professor E. Merton Coulter instilled a lifelong passion for that subject in a young student named Zell Miller, who is inspiring students of the '90s. 3. Velma Murry teaches a real-world marriage and family problems class using case studies, statistics, and research. 4. Scott Shamp, director of the Dowden Center for New Media Studies, teaches students skills that put them in high demand in the current job market. Instructional Support and Development gives faculty grants for projects that use technology to enhance learning. Information can be found on their Web site at this address. Faculty who taught for more than a half-century: Willis Bocock (Greek) William Hooper (Latin) John McPherson (history) John Morris (German) Charles Strahan (math) Henry White (chemistry)

ood teaching has been a hallmark of the University since 1801, when the first classes were taught by Josiah Meigs, the former Yale professor who was UGA's second president. Meigs talked about "kindling a scientific fire" on this hill and turning out good scholars. His rallying cry sustained the University throughout the 19th century.

For most of the 1800s there were rarely more than 200 students at the University at any one time. That's a far cry from today, with nearly 23,000 undergraduates and another 8,000 enrolled in graduate and professional programs. But this institution continues to place strong emphasis on how those students are taught.

The Office of Instructional Support and Development, established two decades ago, has developed many programs for junior and senior faculty to encourage creative approaches to teaching and learning. Yes, we have large lecture classes, but that instruction is enhanced with auxiliary discussion sections, lab work, adjunct seminars, and Web-based support. And we have always been aware of our responsibility to train graduate students to be the next generation of college teachers. We don't just throw them into the classroom; we prepare them.

It may surprise some that there are many small classes at an institution this size. But even freshmen have opportunities for personal contact with senior faculty through the Freshman Seminar program, managed through the College of Arts and Sciences. We've recruited enough faculty to offer nearly 60 of these special small-group seminars. The one I taught this fall, "Understanding the Modern University," was one of several offered in residence hallspart of an additional effort we're making to expand academics beyond the traditional classroom.

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