Physical therapy education receives top teaching award

The UNMC Division of Physical Therapy Education on Friday was named the recipient of the 2006 University-wide Departmental Teaching Award, the most prestigious
departmental teaching award presented by the University of Nebraska.

The departmental teaching award recognizes a department within the university that has made a unique and significant contribution to teaching. Patricia Hageman, Ph.D., directs the Division of Physical Therapy Education at UNMC.

University of Nebraska President James B. Milliken announced the award honorees.
Milliken also named the recipients of the Outstanding Research and Creativity Award (ORCA) and the Outstanding Teaching and Instructional Creativity Award (OTICA).

“Excellent faculty are the heart of any university,” Milliken said. “These recipients of our highest awards for teaching exemplify the university’s commitment to building educational programs of high quality with an emphasis on excellent teaching.”

Ruma Banerjee, Willa Cather professor of biochemistry and director of the Center for Redox Biology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Wheeler Dixon, an English professor at UNL, received the ORCA.

“By creating new knowledge, our faculty contribute to the university, the state and the world,” Milliken said. “The research interests represented by this year’s ORCA recipients demonstrate the richness and diversity of work among our faculty.”

Named as recipients of this year’s OTICA were Karen Dwyer, associate professor of communications at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and Ruth Heaton, associate professor of teaching, learning and teacher education at UNL.

A more complete article featuring the UNMC Division of Physical Therapy Education will appear next month, when the division formally receives its award.