Physiology faculty member Virginia Shea, PhD, is the 2012 recipient of the Friday Center Excellence in Teaching Award for developing and teaching PHYI 202 through the Carolina Courses Online (CCO) program. She authored the CCO course in the fall of 2007 and offered it for the first time in the summer of 2008.

Because of its popularity among students, the course was expanded to offer two sections, and colleague Marianne Meeker, PhD, joined Dr. Shea in this endeavor. Judith Benowitz, the Friday Center’s Program Development Specialist, remarked on the success of the course, “It’s still amazing that a 5 credit-hour course can be offered during the summer and so many students have taken it then—a testament to Virginia and Marianne’s teaching skills!”

The Friday Center has given the Excellence in Teaching Award annually since 2003. Past awardees are:

2003 Robert L. Carter, Religious Studies
2004 Anne S. Hastings, Sociology
2005 Hylarie Kochiras, Philosophy
2006 Robert Porter, African-American Studies
2007 Michele Strong, History
2008 Maurice Powers, Environmental Science (from Elizabeth City State University through the Self-paced Courses Consortium)
2009 Richard Krawiec, English
2010 Kimball King, Dramatic Art
2011 Kathy Maboll, Public Speaking (through the Community Classroom Series)

Awardees are selected by a committee of Friday Center staff. A permanent plaque at the Friday Center lists every recipient.