Christy named outstanding educator

Posted: 

ann_christy_award.jpg
Ann Christy (center) receives the National Excellence in College and University Teaching Award from APLU staff. Also pictured (L) is Bruce McPheron, Executive VP & Provost, The Ohio State University.
For Professor Ann Christy, teaching is about inspiring and empowering students by engaging them in course content and the process of learning itself. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), has just honored Dr. Christy’s exemplary commitment to scholarship, pedagogy and instruction by naming her as the recipient of the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Excellence in College and University Teaching Award for Food and Agricultural Sciences. The award was presented on November 13, 2016 at the 129th APLU Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas.

Prior to becoming a faculty member at Ohio State, Christy worked full-time in the engineering consulting industry – informing her teaching in courses such as bioenergy, biological engineering, environmental controls, professional development, thermodynamics, waste management, first-year engineering design, senior capstone design, and college teaching. She has won multiple teaching awards at the college, university, and national levels. Her research focuses on bioenergy, environment, and engineering education, and she has generated over 120 publications.

Her service includes mentoring graduate students and young faculty in their own teaching. She helped found and subsequently chaired the Education Division of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers. Professor Christy most recently was interim director of the college’s Engineering Education Innovation Center. In that role, she facilitated the establishment of a new Department of Engineering Education, shepherding the relatively rare event of the birth of a new department. She now chairs the department’s graduate studies committee, which is designing curricula for proposed STEM education doctoral graduate studies with an engineering emphasis.

Dr. Christy’s commitment to students is further exemplified in the numerous awards and citations she has received, including College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Science Star Student Supporter Award (‘12), the Ohio State University Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching (’07) and the College of Engineering Boyer Award for Excellence in Teaching Innovation (’05).

Founded in 1887, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) is a research, policy, and advocacy organization representing 236 public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems, and affiliated organizations. Annually, member campuses enroll 4.8 million undergraduates and 1.3 million graduate students, award 1.2 million degrees, employ 1.2 million faculty and staff, and conduct $43.2 billion in university-based research.

This story contains content contributed by The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.