Two faculty members from the Judith Enyeart Reynolds College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities have been awarded the 2024 Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning (FCTL) Teaching Excellence Award.

The honorees, associate professor Dr. Jennifer LaPrade and associate professor Dr. William Sandel, teach in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Only four faculty were selected overall for the award.

Each year the FCTL recognizes faculty members who have been nominated due to their demonstrated teaching excellence and dedication to student success.

“Bill and Jennifer take teaching to another level,” said Dr. Brett Garland, head of the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. “Both are constantly experimenting with new techniques and have a wonderful ability to motivate students to aim higher and push their limits.”

“They are like all great teachers who recognize that both learning and teaching are a process—and they are committed to continuously refining the art of teaching,” Garland continued. “I think their students pick up on that and become energized from it.”

Nominated faculty members go through a rigorous application process, with the FCTL recognizing top applicants with the distinguished excellence in teaching award.

Student engagement key to successful teaching methods

Sandel said he felt “very honored” to be recognized, as he sees teaching as “one of the most difficult things to assess.”

Class discussion features prominently in Sandel’s teaching method.

He uses discussion to help students focus beyond “mere memorization” so that they can learn how to evaluate and justify decisions and opinions.

“Many of our students go on to be lawyers or police officers, where their ability to critically and ethically consider information can mean life or death for citizens—that is, police use of force, death penalty cases, etc.,” he said. “As such, I set learning objectives around critical thinking and ethical decision making.”

LaPrade said she was “truly honored” to be recognized by the FCTL.

“I love working with our students,” she said. “Teaching is a gift and an honor, and I feel like one of the luckiest people on the planet to be able to do it every day.”

LaPrade described her teaching method as revolving around storytelling, experiential learning and critical thinking.

She uses storytelling in her Criminal Procedure (CRM 365) course to teach students how landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases have impacted law enforcement. She applies the same method in her Wrongful Convictions (CRM 425) course to help students explore how the criminal justice system can learn from these stories.

When describing her experiential learning methods in the classroom, LaPrade reflected on her own educational experience.

“When I think back on the classes I have taken on my academic journey, I do not remember much about the classes where there were simply lectures, papers and exams,” she explained. “I remember the courses where I was forced to be involved and actively participate in my own learning.”

Experiential learning takes shape in LaPrade’s Evidence (CRM 435) course, in which students use a packet of evidence to present criminal trials, and in her Post-Conviction Justice Clinic (CRM 316), in which students volunteer for the Midwest Innocence Project.

Like Sandel, LaPrade also stresses critical thinking skills in her classes.

“My job is not to tell students what to think, it is to teach them how to think,” she said.

“We are teaching future police officers, future public defenders, future victim advocates, future prosecutors, future judges and much more,” LaPrade said.

“As teachers, we help shape the world and the future.”