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| Jay Rosenheim is the recipient of a UC Davis Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
DAVIS--Professor Jay Rosenheim of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, described as “an extraordinary educator, a remarkable scholar and a superb teacher and mentor, is a 2011 recipient of the UC Davis Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching.
“Professor Rosenheim excels in teaching from all perspectives—the diversity and types of classes taught, the innovative strategies developed to engage students and covey complex information and the clarity his methods bring to the students,” said nominator Diane Ullman, associate dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and professor of entomology.
One student, in an unsolicited online evaluation, ranked him as “the best teacher at (UC) Davis. Hands down. Take him if you can.”
Rosenheim will receive the award from the Academic Senate at a ceremony set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 11 in the Activities and Recreation Center (ARC) Ballroom.
Known for his classroom diversity, Rosenheim teaches large and small-sized classes, lower division introductory courses and freshmen seminars. He also mentors undergraduate and graduate students, has chaired the Population Biology Graduate Group, taught in the Collaborative Learning in Math and Biology (CLIMB) program, and developed an innovative honors program to enhance the research experience of undergraduates (See it on the web at http://ucanr.org/sites/insecthonors/.)
Yao Hua Law, who received his doctorate under Rosenheim and is now a senior lecturer at the University Putra Malaysia, characterized Rosenheim as a “natural educator, enthusiastic and encouraging.” Rosenheim exudes “passion and pride in education,” he said.
Recipients of the 2011 Academic Senate awards for distinguished teaching:
Undergraduate:
Jay Rosenheim, Entomology
Dean Tantillo, Chemistry
Charles Walker, History
Gergely Zimanyi, Physics
Graduate/Professional:
Carol Erickson, Molecular and
Cellular Biology
John Scott, Political Science
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Andrew Forbes, a former postdoctoral researcher in the Rosenheim lab, described him as “an excellent teacher, so effective that I took notes on his presentation style.”
Wrote an undergraduate student on an evaluation form: “He is extremely clear and his lectures are very evidence/data-based which really solidifies concepts well.”
Another opined: “He can simply stand before packed lecture halls and speak, completely unassisted by PowerPoint slides or other visual aids, and hold the entire audience’s attention. This extraordinary talent makes him greatly appreciated and widely respected by his students.”
One student acknowledged that he initially wasn’t at all interested in the subject, “but because of Professor Rosenheim, the class became my favorite. I actually enjoyed sitting in a lecture hall of 500 students three times a week and walked away from each lecture feeling like I had just been in a 20-student discussion group."
And another gave him the ultimate compliment: “Let’s put it this way: largely because of Professor Rosenheim, I changed my major to entomology.”
Rosenheim, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science since 2009, received one of six campus-wide teaching awards, the “Excellence in Education Award,” given by the Associated Students of UC Davis in 2009.
Rosenheim, who received his bachelor’s degree in entomology and genetics from UC Davis in 1983, obtained his doctorate in entomology in 1987 from UC Berkeley. He joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 1990 as an assistant professor, and was promoted to associate professor in 1994, and professor in 1998.
Rosenheim focuses his research on behavioral, population, and evolutionary ecology of parasitoid-host and predator-prey interactions, with direct applications to biological control in agricultural ecosystems.
(Editor's Note: Professor Bruce Hammock of the UC Davis Department of Entomology received a UC Davis Distinguished Teaching Award for Graduate and Professional Teaching in 2008.)
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
