Spring Break
Professors nominated for NSCS award
Regina Forker
Issue date: 4/6/05 Section: News
Two UConn members of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars (NSCS) have nominated two UConn professors for the organization's 2005 Faculty of the Year Award.
Courtney Hill, a 6th-semester psychology major, nominated sociology professor Ralph McNeal and Kerry Kozaczuk, a 10th-semester fine arts and women's studies major, nominated Cora Lynn Deibler of the Department of Fine Arts.
"We recognize that behind each exceptional scholar stands at least one extraordinary educator. Our goal is to provide the students a forum in which to thank them," said Executive Director and Founder Steve Loflin in a press release.
Hill said McNeal "immediately came to mind. He has a way about him that makes students feel very comfortable. He is an amazing professor who takes pride in his work and students."
"Going to class is not a task, or a bore, but more like going to a discussion with friends about today's most pertinent issues," Hill said.
McNeal, who started out studying engineering, math and physics at the University of Miami, spent seven years getting his bachelor's degree.
In 1986, McNeal said he realized he "was studying things I was very good at, but I didn't like, so I decided to find something I could actually call a passion - something I could do everyday and not be paid for it."
"I think it's a very rare thing for people to have a calling, for people to do what they're supposed to do. This [teaching] is my calling," McNeal said. "I have no doubt that this is what I'm supposed to do."
When he found out Hill wanted to nominate him, McNeal said he was surprised.
"I must have made an impression on her [Courtney] in one of my classes because she is not even one of my advisees," he said.
"I was raised in a working-poor community in Miami, Florida and attended a school with a dropout rate in excess of 30 percent," McNeal wrote in his award application essay. "I was one of those students, having dropped out in November of my junior year."
Courtney Hill, a 6th-semester psychology major, nominated sociology professor Ralph McNeal and Kerry Kozaczuk, a 10th-semester fine arts and women's studies major, nominated Cora Lynn Deibler of the Department of Fine Arts.
"We recognize that behind each exceptional scholar stands at least one extraordinary educator. Our goal is to provide the students a forum in which to thank them," said Executive Director and Founder Steve Loflin in a press release.
Hill said McNeal "immediately came to mind. He has a way about him that makes students feel very comfortable. He is an amazing professor who takes pride in his work and students."
"Going to class is not a task, or a bore, but more like going to a discussion with friends about today's most pertinent issues," Hill said.
McNeal, who started out studying engineering, math and physics at the University of Miami, spent seven years getting his bachelor's degree.
In 1986, McNeal said he realized he "was studying things I was very good at, but I didn't like, so I decided to find something I could actually call a passion - something I could do everyday and not be paid for it."
"I think it's a very rare thing for people to have a calling, for people to do what they're supposed to do. This [teaching] is my calling," McNeal said. "I have no doubt that this is what I'm supposed to do."
When he found out Hill wanted to nominate him, McNeal said he was surprised.
"I must have made an impression on her [Courtney] in one of my classes because she is not even one of my advisees," he said.
"I was raised in a working-poor community in Miami, Florida and attended a school with a dropout rate in excess of 30 percent," McNeal wrote in his award application essay. "I was one of those students, having dropped out in November of my junior year."