November 20, 2008
NEWS RELEASE
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Iowa State University
www.las.iastate.edu
Contacts:
Tom Greenbowe, (515) 294-6352 (tgreenbo@iastate.edu)
Steve Jones, Liberal Arts & Sciences Communications, (515) 294-0461 (jones@iastate.edu)
Greenbowe is named Iowa’s Professor of the Year by
the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
AMES, Iowa – Tom Greenbowe teaches chemistry courses using principles such as guided inquiry, group work and peer instruction. He will also toss in rock n roll analogies to prove a point.
For his emphasis on teaching and learning, Greenbowe, a professor of chemistry at Iowa State University, today was named the 2008 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Iowa Professor of the Year. The awards program is sponsored by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
“It’s nice to receive recognition from outside the university for efforts put forth in teaching and advising,” said Greenbowe, who joined the ISU Department of Chemistry in 1990. He quickly praised his students and colleagues for his winning the award. “The quality of students and the cooperative efforts of the people at Iowa State make this university a very good place to be a faculty member.”
The award is part of the 2008 U.S. Professors of the Year Awards program. Four national Professors of the Year were named in addition to state-level Professors of the Year in 44 states, the District of Columbia and Guam. The awards recognize professors for their influence on teaching and their commitment to undergraduate students.
“Tom is a wonderful and popular teacher,” said Jake Petrich, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry. “He is especially gifted in handling large introductory classes. Tom also is internationally known for his research in chemical education.”
Greenbowe has overhauled how his large-section chemistry courses are taught. His students work in small groups for short periods of time during lectures to better understand complex chemistry topics. Courses use computer simulations, demonstrations and other instructional materials to “provoke discussions, questions and to show practical applications of chemistry,” according to Greenbowe.
With a grant from the National Science Foundation, he also is changing how teaching assistants and other instructors teach recitation (discussion) sections and lead lab experiments. In addition, more than 500 chemistry instructors worldwide are using web-based instructional computer simulations that he and colleagues at two other universities developed. Working with ISU colleagues, he has published two general chemistry laboratory manuals and an organic chemistry lab manual.
A student-centered professor, Greenbowe believes students learn best through self-discovery. “Stepping aside from being the ‘sage on the stage’ and into the role of being the ‘guide on the side’ allows my students to learn chemistry,” he once wrote.
The U.S. Professors of the Year program, created in 1981, is the only national initiative specifically designed to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring. Greenbowe is the fourth Iowa State faculty member to win the state award. The others are Gail Nonnecke, horticulture, 2007; Herman Blake, educational leadership and policy studies, 2002; and Richard Seagrave, chemical engineering, 2000.
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See more on the U.S. Professors of the Year program at www.usprofessorsoftheyear.org/.
