KSU professor to receive Board of Regents’ Teaching Excellence Award
Sabine Smith is one of three University System of Georgia professors to receive honor
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Georgia
(Oct 19, 2010) —
KENNESAW, Ga. (Oct. 19, 2010) – Sabine Smith, an associate professor of German at Kennesaw State University, has been tapped to receive the 2011 Board of Regents’ award for teaching excellence,
one of only three awards given to faculty members selected from the University System
of Georgia’s 35 schools.
Smith was designated the most outstanding teacher at a regional or state university. The
Board of Regents also named an outstanding individual faculty member representing
the system’s two-year and state colleges and one representing research universities.
The Board of Regents honored Smith for her innovative teaching, the co-curricular
activities she devises to immerse students in German language and culture, and her
leadership in establishing a German studies major at KSU.
“This is an outstanding and richly deserved honor for Dr. Smith and for Kennesaw State,”
said President Daniel S. Papp. “She exhibits an extraordinary level of dedication
to her students and the teaching profession, and a commitment to the university’s
academic ideals. We are very proud of her accomplishments.”
Smith, who holds a Ph.D. in German from the University of California, Davis, joined the KSU faculty in 1999 as the only full-time German professor in the foreign
languages department. Since then, the German studies program she helped design evolved
into an undergraduate minor at Kennesaw Statein 2000, and became a major in 2007, and now has seven instructors. Enrollment in German courses at KSUgrew from 78 in spring 1999 to 231 in spring 2010.
“Having grown up in Europe, I personally value foreign language and culture study
as a ticket to experiential learning and global citizenship,” said Smith, who was
selected by fellow faculty in 2009 to receive the Distinguished Teaching Award from the KSU Foundation.
Smith said she works to provide students the broadest possible range of experiences
to learn another language and culture, including study-abroad, internships, interdisciplinary studies, speakers, cultural events and service-learning projects such as teaching German at local schools.
“When students exhibit both content knowledge of the language and culture they study
and complete a sojourn in an immersion environment they experience as foreign, they
have made significant progress in achieving intercultural competence as global citizens,”
she said.
Smith and other recipients of annual Board of Regents honors for teaching and scholarship
will receive $5,000 and a certificate when the awards are presented during a ceremony
in March.
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Kennesaw State University is the third-largest university in Georgia, offering more
than 70 graduate and undergraduate degrees, including doctorates in education, business
and nursing and a new Ph.D. in international conflict management. A member of the
35-unit University System of Georgia, Kennesaw State is a comprehensive, residential
institution with a growing student population of more than 23,000 from 142 countries.
A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees to its more than 41,000 students. With 11 colleges on two metro Atlanta campuses, Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia and the second-largest university in the state. The university’s vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the region and from 126 countries across the globe. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 6 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu.
