COLUMBUS - The Ohio State University recently announced that the departments of Chemistry and Food Science and Technology are the recipients of the 2000 Departmental Teaching Excellence Awards.

The Office of Academic Affairs and the Alumni Association co-sponsor the awards, honoring outstanding performance in teaching by two academic departments each year. The awards recognize the central role that undergraduate, graduate and professional teaching plays in the university's mission, and acknowledge the collective effort that determines the quality of individual students' education. Winning departments receive $25,000 in annual rate from the Office of Academic Affairs and a one-time award of $1,500 from the Alumni Association.

In addition, three departments this year received an honorable mention in the competitive program: East Asian languages and literatures, French and Italian, and linguistics. Each of those departments will receive a one-time award of $2,000 from the Office of Academic Affairs.

"All of these departments are honorable, in my book, for their obvious commitment to excellence in teaching," said Martha Garland, vice provost and dean for undergraduate studies. "The competition for these awards is stiff, which is really a blessing - we have so many departments working incredibly hard on behalf of the students. It's such a pleasure to be able to reward them through this program."

Bruce Bursten, chair of Ohio State's chemistry department, reports that, of the 36 College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences faculty who have received the Distinguished Scholar Award and the 30 college recipients of the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, 16 and 12 of those recipients, or 44 percent and 40 percent, respectively, were chemistry professors.

"We start with faculty who are intrinsically interested in teaching," Bursten said. "They do a good job, and are assisted by a superb support staff and a superb training program for graduate teaching associates and undergraduate student instructional aides. And you can't leave out the relationship between research and teaching. A big part of the undergraduate experience here is that a lot of students receive undergraduate research experience. Plus, we have faculty at the cutting edge of chemical research exposing our students to the best new stuff going on."

The department will use its award winnings to directly support teaching. The cash award will help fund a program of teaching chemistry to high school chemistry teachers, and the department is considering using the annual rate to support the hiring of a faculty specialist in chemical education.

Ohio State's Department of Food Science and Technology often adjusts its curriculum to address the needs of the nation's food industry, contributing to the nearly 100 percent employability of the university's food science and technology graduates.

"There is no graduate of food science who cannot find a job," said Ken Lee, department chair. And they're working in a field that truly is key to improving the human condition - which is core to the university's values and mission, Lee notes.

In their pursuit of safer and better foods, students are working with a highly decorated group of faculty in a relatively small department for Ohio State: 14 professors total. Many have earned the University's Distinguished Scholar Award and the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, and all have received a variety of external awards commending their work.

"That's about a culture of excellence," Lee said. "I'm fortunate, and I guess Ohio State is fortunate, that we don't have monodimensional faculty. You can't say you're going to be excellent in teaching and not also be excellent in research and service. This college (the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Science) really does have a tradition and cultural expectation that gives students the top priority. They find this a compelling place to learn."

Lee said the department will use its teaching excellence award earnings to invest in and foster activities that give students extraordinary learning experiences, including pursuing the most state-of-the-art technology available for its new $17 million building under construction. The department plans to occupy the building in December.

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