Binghamton University student receives Graduate Excellence Award

BINGHAMTON, NY (04/01/2014)(readMedia)-- Each year, Binghamton University honors the special achievements of those graduate students who serve as teaching assistants and instructors. Nominations are invited from all graduate programs and recipients represent a variety of teaching approaches in diverse subjects.

Rochelle DuFord from Binghamton, NY has recently received a Graduate Student Excellence in Teaching award from Binghamton University, State University of New York:

Extremely well organized and well prepared, Rochell Duford establishes a relaxed yet focused classroom atmosphere that encourages congenial, inclusive, intense and serious conversations in which students see themselves as stakeholders in how the entire class wrestles with complex and ethically charged materials writes her nominator. She effortlessly switches back and forth between lecture and question-and-answer, and judiciously uses new learning technologies in an unobtrusive way that clearly expands and deepens students' learning. She designs her courses with the diversity of students and philosophical perspectives in mind, and students eagerly participate in class discussions. Students note that she makes them feel at ease and is very easy to understand, which creates a give-and-take process that brings students to a deeper understanding of difficult issues or texts. "Her skills and talents will only deepen with time and experience, and we have before us the early career of a deeply successful teacher," writes her nominator.

Binghamton University is one of the four university centers of the State University of New York. Known for the excellence of its students, faculty, staff and programs, Binghamton enrolls close to 15,000 students in programs leading to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. Its curriculum, founded in the liberal arts, has expanded to include selected professional and graduate programs.