Chemistry Professor Elena Kowalczyk Wins National Undergraduate Teaching Award

Dr. Elena Kowalczyk, professor of chemistry, has received a national award recognizing excellence in undergraduate STEM instruction, the fourth Southgate faculty member to win the honor in the past decade. Kowalczyk was recognized for redesigning the university's introductory chemistry sequence around collaborative lab investigations.

The award, given annually by a national consortium of liberal arts colleges and universities, comes with a research stipend that Kowalczyk plans to use to expand a peer-tutoring initiative she started five years ago for first-generation science majors.

"Professor Kowalczyk has changed how hundreds of our students experience their first year of science," said Dean of Arts & Sciences Thomas Reyes. "She has a gift for making rigorous material feel approachable without lowering the bar."

Kowalczyk joined the Southgate faculty in 2011 and has published widely on inclusive pedagogy in introductory chemistry courses. She will be honored at a national conference this summer and will deliver a campus lecture on her teaching methods in the fall.