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UMUC Europe
2007 Stanley J. Drazek Teaching Excellence Award Recipients
Carol A. Dolan integrates the “Three E's” into her teaching style: education, experience, and enthusiasm. Currently a collegiate professor in Rota, Spain, Dr. Dolan initially taught for UMUC-Asia prior to coming to Europe as a faculty member in 1997. She enjoyed the opportunity to travel and teach within the military communities of Belgium , Germany , England, Spain, and Turkey before accepting her current position in 2003.
As a subject matter expert in the field of psychology, Dr. Dolan has published many research articles relating to health psychology, military psychology, and public health. Her professional experiences include a position as a research psychologist at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and at the Social and Behavior Sciences Department at Boston University School of Public Health.
Her teaching style stems from her passion for the field of psychology and her desire to impel students to ask questions and think more critically about human behavior. She employs humor in the classroom to enhance the learning environment and draws from her professional experiences to bring the subject matter to life.
Inspired by students' commitment to learn, Dr. Dolan admires students who continue with their education despite difficult circumstances like deployments and family commitments. A life-long learner herself, she recently began a program of graduate study to broaden her knowledge base and offer students a better perspective on the applications of counseling psychology. She is a member of the American Counseling Association and the American Psychosomatic Society.
Dr. Dolan received an MA and a PhD in personality and social psychology from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a BA in psychology from St. Michael's College. She shares her love of travel with her husband Trevor Sloan, and they enjoy touring Europe by motorcycle.
Since 1985, adjunct professor Roberto Russo has been sharing his gift for science and mathematics with university students. His teaching philosophy stems from the principle that mathematics and related sciences are intrinsically interesting because they help people understand their environment.
In the classroom, Dr. Russo works to eliminate misunderstandings that students may have about mathematics and science and seeks to build students' self-confidence through facilitating a relaxed, non-judgmental learning environment. He realizes that students often find math and science difficult because they have been negatively influenced by previous learning experiences and says, “In fact, low self-esteem is highly correlated with the math and science anxiety syndrome.”
To engage and stimulate students' enthusiasm for the subject area, Dr. Russo employs innovative teaching approaches. In the classroom, he encourages student questions and believes through inquiry we come to understand our world. He also incorporates field studies into his curriculum, such as trips to the interactive science museum in Naples.
As a research scientist for the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and a subject matter expert in the field of physical-chemistry of polymers, Dr. Russo is the author of more than 50 published articles in international scientific journals and has been a speaker at several national and international scientific congresses. He enjoys teaching students about the scientific applications of his research in biodegradable and renewable plastic materials.
Dr. Russo received a La Laurea di Dottore in Chimica from the University of Naples and participated in two years of polymer research at the University of Massachusetts . He plans to continue researching and teaching because he values sharing information with others.