By ANNA MARTIN
Staff Writer
As May draws closer, Wingate University’s seniors wait with anticipation to receive their long-awaited honors and diplomas. May 8 and 9 mark the end of an era filled with busy schedules, coursework, projects, exams and presentations. Yet, these graduation ceremonies will honor more than just the students.
Faculty awards will be presented to four professors who have demonstrated innovation, scholarship and service to the University.
“Much of what faculty do falls outside of the classroom with preparing, staying current, planning new teaching strategies, advising and mentoring students,” said Michele Pfaff, Director of Nursing for the Levine College of Health Science.
“Our scholarship work often goes unrecognized as many are focused on student outcomes and not the other facets of what faculty contribute to their profession,” Pfaff said.
Dr. Brie Leggat Johnson, a nominee for the Debra M. O’Neal Award for Excellence in Teaching, certainly fits the criteria under the many hats she wears at Wingate.
Doubling as the Elementary Education Program and Educational Studies Program Coordinators, as well as teaching literary education courses in the Thayer School of Education, Johnson has become an asset in her three-year tenure. Her strategy in the classroom is unique, fitting the mold for her nomination.
“One thing I really try to do is create a classroom community,” she said. “Every class, I have community time where students can share a celebration, their birthday, comments, concerns. So I’m knowing who’s going on a date on Friday and who’s hoping to get engaged, athletes sharing their sports events, things like that.”
Her creativity and innovation extend beyond the classroom. In her online classes, Johnson hosts fun games like escape rooms to encourage participation in an asynchronous environment. She has also organized an on-campus reading clinic for children, where her own students are able to participate as teachers.
Johnson says this event has been a positive experience for all parties. Her students receive practical educational opportunities, while the children benefit from extra mentoring.
“A lot of us don’t remember how we learned to read and write,” she said. “But the actual process of how you learn is incredibly complicated and there’s a lot that is going on with the brain and your motor skills that teachers have to be aware of to be able to make that learning happen.”
Many special moments have evolved from this community that Johnson has created.
“I had a mom come in last semester,” she said, “The mom didn’t speak English as her first language, but she was showing us that her daughter had gotten 100% on a spelling test.”
Johnson recounted the emotional impact of the accomplishment.
“I was tearing up,” she said. “The mom was crying. The feeling that she had about herself that ‘I’m a good speller, I’m a good reader’ is probably going to make her pick up more books.”
Johnson says the ripple effect that comes with teaching education is the most rewarding aspect of the job. By teaching her students, they go forward to teaching others, some of whom will one day be motivated to do the same.
The long line of people Johnson impacts make her a textbook candidate for the awards. There are 34 total nominations for this year’s Faculty Awards, in every department from Communication to OT (Occupational Therapy) to Social Work. The winners will be announced at the graduate and undergraduate ceremonies, and will receive monetary stipends.
Wingate Triangle 