Grad students recognize faculty

By Kelly Canright

Arizona Daily Wildcat

This time the teachers are getting the A's.

The English Graduate Union held the second annual Outstanding Faculty Awards Ceremony last Friday.

The Graduate Student Union designed this forum to recognize faculty who have devoted time to teaching and mentoring students, said Julia Ferganchick-Neufang, an English graduate student and co-chair of the event.

Because faculty are under so much pressure to publish and do research, teaching can sometimes become secondary, Ferganchick-Neufang said.

Rudolph Troike, English department head, supported the awards ceremony by providing funds for the event. Dessert and beverages were served at the reception beforehand.

Tilly Warnock, a professor in the Rhetoric Composition and the Teaching of English program, received the first of the four awards given. RCTE graduate students Chere Peguesse and Julie Jung presented the honor with a laudatory speech.

"It's hard to write a letter like this about someone like Tilly without sounding like a gushing fool, but today we opt to close by doing just that. And we know we speak for many reluctant fools Ä our fellow RCTErs, and English department colleagues, Writing Center consultants, and folks across the UA campus Ä when we say, 'We love you, Tilly, and we feel tremendously lucky to know you.'"

Others receiving awards included Barbara Culley, creative writing professor, Muriel Saville-Troike, English professor and Joan Dayan, literature professor.

The faculty members who received awards were nominated and elected by the entire graduate department. The winners were decided by a final vote of about 400 English graduate students.

The recipients of the awards were presented with certificates of appreciation provided by Saville-Troike.

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