2022 Celebration of Teaching Honors Buswell and Ding
April 20, 2022 – Two Samueli School faculty members – Fangyuan Ding and Natascha Buswell – will be honored as part of the 2022 Celebration of Teaching, April 21, from 4:30-6 p.m. at the UCI Student Center in Doheny A and B.
The event, coordinated by the Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation, recognizes faculty, instructors and teaching assistants who have demonstrated excellence in undergraduate teaching at UC Irvine. Nominated by peers, students and staff, awardees exemplify exceptional teaching across six award categories. This year’s event will include a presentation of celebratory videos.
Ding, assistant professor of biomedical engineering, will receive the Excellence in Pedagogical Development award, which acknowledges an instructor who has spent considerable time and effort engaging in various pedagogical development opportunities. This could include personal development, mentoring graduate students, or providing development opportunities to colleagues or departments.
“It is really an honor to win the Pedagogical Development Award this year,” said Ding, who was moved by the recognition. “To be very honest, I almost teared up when I saw the kind words from my nominator students. As a junior faculty, I have done a lot of thinking about my teaching strategies, and now, I know all my efforts have paid off.”
Buswell, assistant professor of teaching of mechanical and aerospace engineering, will receive two awards: Dean’s Honoree and Inclusive Teaching.
In her research, Buswell works to understand the experiences of engineers in academic and workplace contexts (students, instructors, professionals). She focuses on the teaching experiences and methods of graduate students and faculty at a variety of institutional types.
"Being selected for these two awards is a dream for me as a teacher; to be both recognized by my dean and colleagues as well as by my students is incredibly fulfilling,” said Buswell. “The inclusive teaching award means a great deal to me – my ultimate goal is to teach my classes in a way that shows students I care about them as people above all else. To have that recognized and rewarded is a reminder to me to continue to prioritize student wellbeing and inclusion in engineering."
– Tonya Becerra
