2018 Excellence in Teaching Awards Announced

Interim Provost Russell Betts has announced the recipients of this year’s faculty teaching awards:

Board of Trustees Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award: Associate Professor Frank Flury

Frank Flury, associate professor of architecture, currently serves as the director of the Bachelor of Architecture program at the College of Architecture and has a great deal of oversight over undergraduate teaching while reinforcing Illinois Tech’s “learning-by-doing” approach to education. In addition to his leadership of the program, his commitment to teaching is most visible through his decade-long experience leading the Design/Build offerings at the College of Architecture. Design/Build is a time- and labor-intensive teaching method because it requires instructors to spend a considerable amount of time sweating while they guide students to design and actually build what they design. Design/Build instructors such as Frank develop strong fellowships with their students because of the time spent together building and designing alongside their clients.

Frank’s emphasis on “thinking and doing” informs his leadership of the Bachelor of Architecture program, which is the single largest program in the College of Architecture. In addition to teaching IPRO courses through the years, Frank has led a significant number of Design/Build studios in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa. At Illinois Tech’s Mies Campus, Frank and his students recently completed a new outdoor classroom garden for Hermann Hall; just north of Chicago, in Lake Forest, Illinois, Frank built an Artist Studio for the prestigious Ragdale Foundation. To the west, in Plano, Illinois, Flury built the Barnsworth, a pavilion located on the same site of the iconic Farnsworth House, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Other Design/Build works include a student dormitory in Africa (Ghana), a rural health clinic in Indonesia, and a field chapel in Germany. A number of these projects have been recognized with awards from professional and academic associations: AIA Chicago and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.

For more information see his website: www.frankflury.com

John W. Rowe Excellence in Teaching Award: Professor David Williams

David Williams, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of the Fluid Dynamics Research Center, joined Armour College of Engineering in 1983 as an assistant professor of mechanical engineering. His expertise lies within flow control, flow metering fluidic oscillators, linear and nonlinear wave interactions in transitioning flows, and acoustic measurement techniques. David’s three areas of research involve technology that may prevent acoustic resonances in aircraft cavities using active control, experiments conducted in Illinois Tech’s NDF wind tunnel to document the trajectories of generic weapon models that are released from an aircraft cavity, and investigating the phenomenon of sonoluminescence. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society, an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, and an IITRI Fellow, and is also a recipient of Illinois Tech’s Sigma Xi Award for Excellence in Research, Honeywell Advanced Technology Award, Stryker Outstanding Student Organization Advisor Award, and MAE Department Excellence in Teaching Award. David is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Institute of Astronautics (Associate Fellow), and the American Physical Society. He received his Doctor of Philosophy in Fluid Dynamics and Master of Science in Fluid Dynamics from Princeton University, and his Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.

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Bauer Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award: Senior Lecturer Suresh Borkar

Suresh Borkar, senior lecturer of electrical and computer engineering, joined Armour College of Engineering in 2006 after a long career at AT&T/Lucent/Alcatel-Lucent Bell Labs in technical and senior management leadership positions. His expertise lies within wireless access and networking, mobility standards, electromagnetics, telecom technologies, telecom management, Internet of Things (IoT), future workforce, digital design, and computer architecture. Suresh’s research interests include wireless 4G and 5G standards, priority management, quality of service (QoS) management, admission and bearer control, and dynamic spectrum allocation. He graduated from Illinois Tech with a Ph.D. and M.S. in electrical and computer engineering. He received a Bachelor of Technology in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi.

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College/School/Institute Excellence in Teaching Award Winners

This year several colleges chose a teaching award winner who was subsequently considered for the university’s Excellence in Teaching Award. Congratulations to the following faculty college/school/institute winners for their excellence in teaching:

Armour College of Engineering—David Williams
Chicago-Kent College of Law—Adrian Walters
College of Science—Sonja Petrovic
Lewis College of Human Sciences—Ellen Mitchell
Stuart School of Business—Michael Gorham
School of Applied Technology/FSN—Kathiravan Krishnamurthy

Russell Betts would like to extend his appreciation to the faculty members who served on the committee to review the nominations for the university awards: Natacha DePaola, Ron Landis, and Ullica Segerstrale.

The University and Bauer Award recipients received a monetary award; University, Bauer, and College/School/Institute Excellence in Teaching Award winners received plaques acknowledging their achievement at the Faculty Recognition and Awards Reception on April 18.

Congratulations and best wishes to all of the recipients