2023 Tanner Awards for Graduate Teaching Assistants

The instructors share their inspiration for leaving their mark on their fellow Carolina students.

2023 Distinguished Teaching Awards for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction

Real-world examples and a consideration for the individual experience help these instructors stay connected to students in meaningful ways.

2023 Tanner Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

“Unessays,” historical tours and more keep these instructors learning from their students while teaching them.

2023 Chapman Family and Johnston Teaching Awards

The award winners share thoughtful reflection on the teachers who inspired them to be better instructors.

2023 BOG, Mentor, Friday and Sitterson Teaching Awards

A hog-waste field trip, Doge memes, Shrinky Dinks and more used by award winners to engage students creatively.

2023 University Teaching Awards recognize 25 educators

The winners, selected from 876 nominations, represent “the best of what Carolina has to offer,” campus leaders said.

2022 Tanner Awards for Graduate Teaching Assistants

With their own favorite teachers fresh in their minds, these budding instructors are already making a difference in the lives of Carolina students.

2022 Chapman Family, Johnston Awards

One recipient inspired a student to make a scratch-and-sniff book, while another’s class translated children’s books into Chinese to serve a local immigrant community.

2022 Board of Governors’, Sitterson, Mentor and Friday Teaching Awards

Learn about laughing meditation field trips, 30-second personal pitch sessions and other ways these award winners engage students.

2022 Distinguished Teaching Awards for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction

When it comes to teaching inspiration, recipients recall the struggle-lightbulb-struggle-lightbulb process of learning and more.

2022 Tanner Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

Learn why one instructor assigned his students to do “The Twist,” how five-question lecture quizzes became a surprising class favorite and more.

Tanner Awards for Graduate Teaching Assistants

One graduate teaching assistant engaged psychology students by asking them to host a podcast episode, while another asked students to propose improvements to laboratory experiments that enhance the remote instruction experience.

Johnston, Chapman Family Awards

One professor started his Zoom lectures with funny photo backdrops and the line “Broadcasting today from in front of a [insert photo quip],” while another teleported into the famous PBS artist studio of Bob Ross, complete with wig.

Sitterson, Mentor and William C. Friday Teaching Awards

One professor offered his class a taste of freeze-dried tarantula, while another shared that her mother was the best teacher she ever had.

Tanner Awards for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching

Learn more about how one professor made his large classes feel small and another showed how topics studied in class are applied and used on the frontlines of medicine.

Distinguished Teaching Awards

One professor hosted an Iron Chef competition, dividing her students into teams, while another explained the profound impact a teacher had when she suggested reading Maya Angelou’s book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”