Pictured left to right: Dr. Sarah Fishman, Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Claudia Scott, Todd Romero, Paige Wilson, and Dr. Steven Craig, Interim Dean CLASSThe College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences gives out teaching excellence awards in three categories each year: Humanities, Social Sciences, and Performing and Visual Arts. The awards are named to honor the memory of one of the University of Houston’s most inspiring teachers, Ross M. Lence, a professor of political science from 1971 – 2006.
The Ross M. Lence Award for Teaching Excellence in Social Sciences awarded to Claudia Scott, Clinical Assistant Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Health and Human Performance
Scott joined UH in 2006, and since 2011 she has served as Director of the Didactic Program in Dietetics for the Department of Health and Human Performance. Scott's dedication and commitment to the program and student readiness resulted in the program receiving accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND®) and students are receiving a 100-percent-pass-rate on the Registered Dietician Exam. Scott draws from her own professional experience, personal networks, and institutional ties to create an internship track for nutrition majors, providing them with knowledge and real life skills and helping them build their own professional networks. Students describe Scott as “a natural magnet,” as well as a passionate, hands-on teacher and mentor to nutrition majors.
The Ross M. Lence Award for Teaching Excellence in Visual/Performing Arts awarded to Paige Wilson, Instructional Associate Professor, School of Theatre and Dance
(As of 9/1 the School of Theatre and Dance became part of the College of the Arts)
Wilson has worked as a professional in her field since 2002 and currently teaches in the areas of costume, lighting and scenic design. In Houston, she served as the Crafts Master/ Milliner at the Alley Theatre. A nationally known mask and crafts artisan, Wilson has earned tremendous respect and admiration from her colleagues for the skills she brought to the program, such as dying, fabric modification, masks, special effect harnesses, prosthetics, blood, shoe modification, jewelry, millinery, headdresses, purses, leatherworking, belts, fur repair and fur trim making. All of her work is done with a deep understanding of the play so the designs reflect the play’s era and ethos.
Wilson’s students develop not only crafts, but analytical skills as well. Wilson is known to bring real world experiences to the class, assigning projects that draw on talent and creativity; thereby building their self-confidence and collaboration.
One student confessed that when she entered the graduate program, she was not terribly confident in her skills. But under Wilson’s direction, she discovered and developed her talent in costume crafts, which turned out to be a niche she loved.
Ross M Lence Award for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities awarded to Todd Romero, Associate Professor of History
A specialist in Native Americans in Colonial era, Dr. Romero regularly teaches the first half of the required U.S. history core course, a class that nearly every student at UH has to take.
Dr. Romero set a high bar for himself. Beyond conveying the facts, he wanted his students to engage with the material, to see history as a process, to take part in the process, learn how to find sources, and hunt for documents like using a treasure map. Rather than class lectures to provide the basic content, Dr. Romero creates a series of short online lecture modules, allowing him to use class time for discovery.
A pre-pharmacy major explained that he only took Dr. Romero’s U.S. history class because it was required. Not only did he love it enough to take another history class, he realized that the study of history honed important skills that would be invaluable to him as a future pharmacist.