UMUC

Center for Teaching and Learning

Teaching Excellence Award Recipients
1998–1999

Undergraduate Programs

Alan Kreger
Alan Kreger has taught business and management courses at UMUC since 1965. He has also served the Cooperative Education program as an advisor to students in business and management and helped develop a manual of guidelines for students in the Cooperative Education program. In 1997 he was elected to the Undergraduate Programs Advisory Council. He is currently developing a course in business statistics for online delivery. Kreger has received five nominations in the past two years for the Teaching Excellence Award. He tries to make his subject of business statistics accessible to students and teaches them to apply the knowledge they gain to everyday situations. In her nomination letter, one student noted that despite her initial concern about taking a statistics course, "He made me look forward to learning more and more about statistics." "He seemed to hold us to a very high standard," she said, adding that she felt fortunate to have benefitted from Kreger’s teaching. Another student wrote that she could "write a list of 50 reasons" why he deserves the Teaching Excellence Award. "As an international student I found Mr. Kreger a very understandable teacher." In a letter of recommendation supporting his nomination, an academic director noted that he is consistently sensitive to students’ career needs, not only focusing on the practical applications of statistics but even helping some of them get their term projects published in professional publications.

William Sondervan
William Sondervan has taught criminal justice and EXCEL courses at UMUC since fall 1989. He has had a long history of service to UMUC, including evaluating EXCEL portfolios in criminal justice and business, serving as a faculty peer mentor, and serving as a member of the Undergraduate Programs Advisory Council. Sondervan is an especially innovative teacher. One student who nominated him for the teaching excellence award this year noted that "he coordinated a network of guest instructors from throughout the criminal justice community" for his CCJS 461 class this past fall. These guest lecturers, all subject matter experts in their fields, enhanced the students’ learning significantly. Another student wrote highly about his use of performance-based instructional techniques. "We were challenged and benefited by questions that required us to think logically and ‘on our feet’ and [we knew that] our answers should be supported based on informed analysis." Sondervan’s approach to teaching (and the key to his success) is summed up in his own teaching philosophy statement: "The instructor’s role is multifaceted. It includes responsibility as an administrator, lecturer, discussion leader, facilitator, resource, mentor, and evaluator. The course has high standards, the students work hard, and the experience is positive and enriching."

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