By Tiffany Edwards, University Relations
John Gamble.
The UNC Board of Governors has selected 16 of its most outstanding faculty to receive Awards for Excellence in Teaching. Professor John Gamble in the Department of Dance is among the 2006 winners.
During a recognition luncheon to be held in conjunction with the board’s May 12 meeting, a faculty member from each UNC campus will receive a commemorative bronze medallion and a $7,500 cash prize.
The 16 recipients, representing an array of academic disciplines, were nominated by special committees on their home campuses and selected by the Board of Governors Committee on Personnel and Tenure, chaired by Charles Mercer of Raleigh. The awards will be presented by UNC President Erskine Bowles and Board of Governors Chairman J. Bradley Wilson of Cary.
Gamble has been a member of the UNCG dance faculty since 1985. He invites the best of his students to join the John Gamble Dance Theatre, a multi-generational and multi-racial company that creates theatrical works that address political and social issues. His passion for finding new teaching settings extends to his involvement in the Grogan College Learning Community, designed to create a small-college atmosphere for freshmen and a learning community for students from a range of arts disciplines.
“I see only blurred lines between what happens in class, what happens during conferences in my office, what happens in rehearsals, and what happens during conversations in the hall,” he said. “All of it is about finding teachable moments, and all of it is part of educating and inspiring young artists.”
Gamble studied a pre-medical curriculum at Cornell University and Union College, psychology at the New School of Social Research, and theater at American University.
The Board of Governors established the Excellence in Teaching awards in 1994 to underscore the importance of teaching and to reward good teaching across the university. The awards are given annually to a tenured faculty member from each UNC campus. Winners must have taught at their present institutions at least seven years. No one may receive the award more than once.
