UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Eberly College of Science has honored three faculty members with the 2022 C.I. Noll Award for Excellence in Teaching. Instituted in 1972 and named in honor of Clarence I. Noll, dean of the college from 1965 to 1971, the award is the highest honor for undergraduate teaching in the college.
Students, faculty members, and alumni nominate outstanding faculty members who best exemplify the key characteristics of a Penn State educator. This year's awardees are Joseph Houck, associate teaching professor of chemistry; Victoria Sadovskaya, professor of mathematics; and Denise Woodward, teaching professor of biology.
Joseph Houck
Houck is an enthusiastic instructor who aims to form connections with students, provide opportunities for students to actively participate and learn from each other, and to connect material to the real world. He makes a concerted effort to learn the names of his students, even in large classes with more than 400 students, and encourages participation through a system he calls “names from a hat.” Students can choose to put their name in a hat to be called on to share their answers after working on an in-class problem to receive extra credit. These practices make for a “welcoming and less intimidating learning environment,” according to a nominator.
“The enthusiasm and conscientiousness he brings to class each day are the aspects of his teaching I find most inspiring,” said a faculty member quoted in a nomination letter. “The excited tone he brings clearly draws student interest, and perhaps more impressively, is reflected by a strong rate of volunteered responses that I would not expect out of a 300+ person class.”
Houck encourages students to learn from each other, including by working together on in-class worksheets. He also appeals to student interests by highlighting real-world applications to the course topics, including through case studies that allow students to apply skills they have learned to biologically relevant problems.
“These case studies are designed to allow students to explore new topics that stem from the material learned in class and highlight how important organic chemistry is,” said one student nominator. “I believe this is an innovative component of the course; as a student, I really enjoyed this project-based approach to learning and knowledge.”
Houck is also committed to improving the courses that he teaches and frequently adapts the curriculum with feedback from students, learning assistants, and teaching assistants. He redesigned CHEM 210 to deliver material through a series of in-class worksheets, which one nominator said, “fosters active learning, with students solving problems as they encounter new material in class.” He recently received a teaching innovation award from the Eberly College of Science to add biological case studies to CHEM 210. He is also working to improve CHEM 111, an online general chemistry course, for which students purchase a kit with materials to complete lab experiments at home.
“I admire how he cares so much about the experience of the students in his online courses," said a nominator.
After researching styles of grading, Houck notably shifted grading to a regime called “specifications grading” for CHEM 210B, which has 470 students. This style of grading — which has not yet been implemented in a class of this size — focuses on providing more targeted feedback and allows students to try again on weekly quizzes. Student responses to this change have been positive, with students mentioning lower stress and increased confidence and motivation.
Outside of the classroom, Houck served as faculty adviser to the Nittany Chemical Society and was an instructor for the Millennium Scholars Summer Bridge Program. He currently mentors the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad Team (USNCO), where he works with some of the top high school students from across the country.
Houck was previously recognized with a Teaching Innovation Award from the Eberly College of Science in 2022 and the Priestley Teaching Prize from the Penn State Department of Chemistry in 2021.
Houck joined Penn State as an assistant teaching professor in 2016 and was promoted to associate teaching professor in 2019. Prior to joining Penn state, Houck was a lecturer at the University of Maryland from 2013 to 2016. He received a doctoral degree in chemistry from the University of Virginia in 2013 and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry with a secondary emphasis on education from Juniata College in 2008.
Victoria Sadovskaya
Sadovskaya said she loves to share her passion for mathematics with her students and to help them discover connections in the course material and develop a deeper understanding and broader appreciation of the subject. Nominators said her passion for mathematics is infectious, and that her enthusiasm and humor make lectures refreshing and memorable.
“She showed me the beauty of mathematics,” said one student nominator, “and her way of enjoying math eventually made a huge impact on my entire college career; I decided to become a mathematician in the future like her.”
Student evaluations for Sadovskaya’s courses have consistently been very high, despite the difficulty of the material. One faculty nominator noted, “the number of glowing comments from students is simply remarkable.” In lectures, Sadovskaya often begins by asking a question and then carefully walks through concepts that help answer that question. According to nominators, she clearly describes the underlying logic and connects the material to other concepts. She regularly checks in with the class with open-ended questions to see whether she should change the pace of the lecture, explain a concept differently, or discuss an additional example.
“She always started from familiar examples and slowly abstracted out their properties one by one,” said a nominator. “Every step of this abstraction was crystal clear as well as rigorously verified.”
Sadovskaya also dedicates a considerable portion of class time to collaboration, allowing students to work together on problems and learn from each other. One nominator said that this emphasis on collaboration “created a safe and positive learning environment where every student and their questions are respected.” Sadovskaya also stresses that making mistakes is a natural part of the learning process, and incorrect answers can reveal common misconceptions and lead to enlightening discussions.
“She runs a unique and dynamic classroom, unlike any other math classes I have taken,” said a nominator.
Sadovskaya serves as the faculty advisor to the Penn State Math Club, which allows undergraduates to explore a variety of mathematical topics and activities in an informal atmosphere. She is also active in the Penn State Women in Math group, which includes faculty, postdocs and students, and she served for several years on the Graduate Teaching Assistant Oversight Committee and the Undergraduate Studies Committee.
Sadovskaya was previously honored with a Donald C. Rung Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching in Mathematics in 2017 and a Teresa Cohen Service Award in 2015, both from the Department of Mathematics at Penn State.
Prior to joining Penn State in 2012, Sadovskaya was an assistant professor then associate professor at the University of South Alabama from 2003 to 2012 and a postdoctoral assistant professor at the University of Michigan. She received a doctoral degree in mathematics from Penn State in 2000 and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from St. Petersburg State University in Russia in 1995.
Denise Woodward
Woodward strives to make course content engaging, to challenge students to think critically, and to make connections between course material and the world we live in. She creates a positive, engaged and student-centric classroom experience, even in large lectures with more than 500 students. Nominators mentioned her commitment to fostering an environment of active learning, both in lectures with polls and questions and in the lab through engaging hands-on activities and relatable, open-ended research experiments where students generate unique data. They also mentioned Woodward’s ongoing desire to incorporate feedback and improve course material from year to year.
“It is clear to me that Denise fosters an environment of discovery and growth, values she has built into her courses,” said a nominator. “The effort she puts into crafting a meaningful experience for her students is more than evident in her course design, her day-to-day lessons, and the respect she garners from her students and peers alike,”
According to nominators, Woodward treats all students with respect and is considerate of their unique backgrounds and perspectives. One said, “she consistently goes above and beyond and has immense compassion and understanding to ensure that students do not fall behind in her courses.” Woodward also ties in the life sciences to issues of ethics and social injustices. For example, one case study in her ecotoxicology course explores how genetically modified insects can be used to combat the spread of insect-borne diseases, like malaria. Additionally, she worked with an undergraduate TA to write a textbook for her human genetics course to significantly decrease the cost of course materials to aid students in financial need.
Woodward also is an excellent mentor to teaching assistants, learning assistants, and peers. As the course coordinator for Biology 110, she directs three other instructors and about 50 graduate and undergraduate teaching assistants that teach lab sections, and also coordinates a large group of learning assistants. Teaching assistants are encouraged to design labs and assignments and are valued members of the teaching team. Multiple nominators mentioned that Woodward’s guidance while a teaching assistant is a major reason for their desire to pursue careers in academia. One explained, “I want to have the same impact on my future students that she had on me.”
Woodward also helped develop and teaches a graduate-level pedagogy course in biology.
“Her ability to engage the students in meaningful discussion and solicit their feelings about moving from being a student to becoming a teacher is singular,” said one nominator. “Denise is invested in excellence in science education and is dedicated to helping these students become the best teachers that they can be.”
Woodward was named an Engagement Fellow by the Student Engagement Network in 2022, for which she received a grant to develop a new course that combines science, art, and educational principles to plant gardens of native plants and provide additional educational materials for the community. Woodward has previously been recognized by being named a Center for Excellence in Science Education Evidence-Based Teaching Institute Fellow in 2018, a Rock Ethics Institute Summer Institute Fellow in 2015, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute/National Academy of Sciences Summer Institute Fellow in 2010.
Prior to joining Penn State in 2001, Woodward served as an instructor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She received a doctoral degree in curriculum and instruction and a master’s degree in zoology from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, in 2013 and 1998, respectively, and a bachelor’s degree in zoology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1990.