UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State has announced that 10 graduate students have been selected as recipients of the Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award, which recognizes graduate teaching assistants for outstanding teaching performance. This award is sponsored jointly by the Graduate School, through the Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award endowment, and the Office of the Vice President and Dean for Undergraduate Education.
Students receiving the award in 2023 include:
Cordelia Beck-Horton
Beck-Horton, a master’s student in chemistry, teaches two organic chemistry courses and a chemistry lab. Many students and instructors praised Beck-Horton for their ability to explain abstract concepts to a wide range of students, and for being empathetic with students. They regularly approach teaching from multiple angles and approaches with a short-term teaching goal of “every interaction with my students leaves them with a tangible increase in understanding, no matter how small.” Students also praised the high level of empathy that Beck-Horton brought to the classroom: “I not only developed a much deeper appreciation of the material,” wrote one student nominator, “but I also felt that my learning and development as a person were significant and mattered here at Penn State.” Read more about Beck-Horton here.
Maria Bermudez
Bermudez, a doctoral student in philosophy, has taught-several discussion-based philosophy courses, including the Ethical Life, Philosophy of Religion, Environmental Philosophy, and Philosophy of Law. She developed creative ways to incentivize students to be prepared for discussions, including a Monte Carlo Quiz at the beginning of each class, in which one student rolls a die and the outcome determines if the class will have a quiz. More importantly, according to nominators, she consistently helps guide students through the course material in a way that helps students build confidence in their understanding and their ability to express their ideas. One student nominator noted, “She created a classroom environment where polarizing opinions were not only openly shared but welcomed.”
Matt Cikovic
Cikovic, a doctoral student in mass communications, teaches in an array of video production classes, including TV and Field Production and Studio Production. He led these highly hands-on classes even during the COVID pandemic, with positive outcomes for students, which is a testament to his effectiveness. Cikovic said he sees his role as being a guide to students, and tries to help students find clarity of purpose in their work. Students recognized that his approaches were designed to build their confidence over time. One student nominator commented, “He really cares about all his students and wants you to succeed!” Read more about Cikovic here.
Kavya Katugam-Dechene
Katugam-Dechene is a doctoral student in kinesiology and a lead teaching assistant for a Biomechanics course. Many students taught by Katugam-Dechene in this course credit her with their success. She was also recognized for going above and beyond in many of her TA duties, regularly meeting with students outside of office hours to accommodate their schedules, as well as helping fellow TAs with organizing their materials. According to one nominator, “She has both genuine compassion and high expectations for her students, and her outstanding preparation and focus on finding ways to reach her students have earned her consistent rave reviews.”
Margaret Lakomy
Lakomy, a doctoral student in chemistry, is a teaching assistant for several chemistry courses. She focused on developing a teaching style to help students feel comfortable asking questions and making mistakes to help them build their knowledge and confidence in their material, she said. When stress levels were higher than normal during the pandemic, Lakomy responded by finding ways to inspire students, such as writing motivational phrases on the ventilation hoods in their lab. One student lauded her effectiveness, “Maggie was amazing at making sure everyone in the lab was on the right track and understood not only what they were doing but what the results meant.” Read more about Lakomy here.
Anna Piotti
Piotti, a doctoral student in German with a dual title in language science, has taught various German courses and a cross-cultural psychology course. As the instructor of record, Piotti focuses on developing a safe community environment in the classroom with high levels of interaction and collaboration. For their dissertation, Piotti designed, implemented, and facilitated a semester-long professional development program on social justice pedagogy German instructors across multiple U.S. universities. Piotti was also selected as the inaugural DEI instructional consultant at the Schreyer Institute of Teaching Excellence and works on designing workshops and providing instructional support specifically focused on issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. According to one student, “I cannot stress enough how much Anna deserves this award and praise the immense effort she puts in to help us understand her deep passion for the German language and teaching as well as to make sure all of her students have equal opportunity and support.”
Ankit Saxena
Saxena, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering, has been a teaching assistant in several mechanical engineering courses. He is also the lead instructor of a course required for the major on mechanical design, which uses a project-based, hands-on design competition. During the COVID pandemic, he was able to transition this activity to a remote environment without compromising learning. During that transition, he also recognized that students wouldn’t have access to the lab computers needed for their assignments, so he developed new lessons for how to optimize the high-end software needed for the course so that it ran effectively when students connected to campus computers remotely. According to one professor who has worked with Saxena, “I feel very strongly in the need for excellent teachers like Ankit and the great impact they can make on the next generation of students.” In recognition of his excellent teaching abilities, Saxena was awarded the prestigious American Society of Mechanical Engineers Graduate Teaching fellowship.
Tasneem Tariq
Tariq, a doctoral student in architecture, is a teaching assistant in two studio-based architectural engineering courses. Her teaching philosophy prioritizes student engagement, creativity, and collaboration to promote a profound and significant learning experience. Tariq focuses on gradually building up students' skills and knowledge over the semester with different concepts, techniques, and tools. For example, she starts by guiding students in sketching a water bottle to understand the concept of scale and proportion, then moves on to building 3D models, and finally ends with a presentation focused on communicating design intentions. She provides thoughtful and detailed feedback to her students throughout the process. One student noted, “She made sure that she gave as much feedback and criticism as possible for every assignment we worked on, and she was a tremendous help.” Another student commented, "Over time, we began to think more like designers than students.”
Yuanheng Wang
Wang is an applied linguistics doctoral student who teaches multiple sections of one English as a second language academic writing course for undergraduate international students, and a second language writing pedagogy course for undergraduate/graduate teacher candidates. A focus of his teaching has been exposing students to real-world contexts and real-world writing. For one assignment, students must interview someone outside of their discipline to get to know the “what, how, and why” of their writing. Wang promotes global citizenship by incorporating multilingual and multicultural activities into his courses and challenges his students to make informed decisions in whatever learning tasks they pursue, such as research papers or lesson plans. He was also recognized by students for his ability to listen to and guide them through writing challenges they faced, such as how to write with clarity. One student wrote, “Thanks to Arthur, I know what it means to be clear and how to make clarity possible.”
Seongryeong Yu
Yu is a doctoral student in curriculum and instruction with a dual title in comparative and international education. She teaches a core elementary education course, Methods of Teaching Elementary Reading, and soon after being assigned to this course, she revamped the focus to bring her own cultural perspectives and experiences into the environment. This, combined with the passion she brings for teaching, helped to refocus the curriculum on preparing students to teach in diverse and multicultural classrooms. One nominator summarized her impact: “Through organizing and guiding the day's class handouts and merging them with the discussion-oriented culture, she discussed how to support multicultural and multilingual students in reading education rather than imagine the classroom where the students are familiar with.” Read more about Yu here.
The Harold F. Martin Graduate Assistant Outstanding Teaching Award is part of Penn State's annual graduate student awards, which recognize graduate students who demonstrate excellence in teaching, research, service, and other academic activities. For more information, visit the 2023 graduate student award recipient announcement.