The University of Georgia Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes exemplary instruction by teaching faculty at the University of Georgia.
These teachers show the strong commitment to UGA’s teaching mission and the award recognizes the corps of teaching faculty that dedicate their time primarily to outstanding teaching endeavors, in and out of the classroom.
Mark Huber (Photo by Peter Frey/UGA)
Mark Huber
Senior Lecturer
Department of Management Information Systems
Terry College of Business
Mark Huber joined the teaching faculty of the Terry College of Business in 1999 and has spent the past two decades creating a reputation of innovative, collaborative teaching. Huber teaches in the Department of Management Information Systems and the online Master of Business Technology and has been an on-site faculty member of the Terry at Oxford Summer Program for four sessions.
Huber has left a lasting impact on his students, as Adam Ames, past student of Huber’s and a director for a global professional services firm, explained.
“As a direct result of Dr. Huber’s classes, his approach with students and relationships he holds with my company, we have been able to hire dozens of students from his program over the years—many of whom have become partners, executives and business leaders,” said Ames.
Huber’s teaching impact extends past the classroom, sharing his work with other junior and senior lecturers through his involvement in the University of Georgia Teaching Academy, the Task Force on the Future of Teaching and Learning at UGA and the Faculty Affairs Committee.
“Regardless of the course or level of teaching, it is very important to me to ‘be present’ for my students. I do this through a genuine concern for and commitment to my students’ current and future successes, coupled with an enthusiasm and a willingness to innovate and to share those innovations with others,” Huber said.
— Irene Wright
Melissa Landers-Potts (Photo by Peter Frey/UGA)
Melissa Landers-Potts
Senior Lecturer
Department of Human Development and Family Science
College of Family and Consumer Science
Melissa Landers-Potts has been a lecturer in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences Department of Human Development and Family Science since 2008. For 13 years, Landers-Potts has received exceptional reviews from students and fellow faculty for the teaching of introductory/2000-level courses as well as her upper-level seminars in diversity and ethics.
Landers-Potts also emphasizes experiential learning in the classroom.
“She developed the university’s first and only ‘extreme service-learning’ course, characterized by being fully online in both content and service-learning activities,” said Sheri Worthy, interim dean of the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. “Dr. Landers-Potts exemplifies the concept of a lifelong learner—a person who continually challenges herself to develop, to improve and to excel.”
As an active, former UGA Service-Learning Fellow, Landers-Potts has shared her classroom success with other departments and colleges at UGA. She has also presented to faculty members of other institutions so that more students can participate in service-learning opportunities that supplement and enhance their programs.
“My students give me hope on a daily basis that each generation is wiser and more insightful over time,” Landers-Potts said. “I am incredibly fortunate to be in a position where I am able to spend so much time with young people who are brilliant and idealistic.”
— Irene Wright
