Established by contributions from the former Vice President for Research and Dean of the Graduate School Gary Heberlein, the Garrett T. Heberlein Endowed Award for Excellence in Teaching for Graduate Students is designed to elevate the attention given to teaching as part of graduate education and the preparation of graduate students to serve as college and university faculty. 

Awardees were nominated by their departments, professors, and former students and selected by a graduate student committee based on their demonstration of instructional excellence.

Congratulations to the following 2022 recipients!

Award category for Ph.D. lecture sections:

Mohammad Behzad Kang, Ph.D. student, Department of Mathematics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

Mohammad Behzad Kang has been recognized by his department as an exemplary instructor whose teaching and community engagement have been bolstered through his service in Math Corps, STEM Day, and workshops through the Center for Excellence and Equity in Mathematics. He received the 2019 M.F. Janowitz Fund and the 2018 Robert and Nancy Irvan Endowed Scholarship in Mathematics in recognition of his accomplishments. His former students attest that his enthusiasm to cultivate a creative online learning environment during the pandemic motivated them to persevere in their studies despite the challenges of adjusting to virtual learning and the added hardships of Covid-19. 

Award category for recitation or laboratory sections:

David Moutard, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Physics and Astronomy, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

David Moutard has taught a uniquely broad range of lab courses from introductory physics to the physics of music and an advanced course in optics. When the university switched to online learning in 2020, the task of converting the lab for the physics of music course “The Sounds of Music” fell on his shoulders. Moutard sleuthed together online tools, simulations and experiments to implement into the course to keep students engaged and achieved remarkable achievements in instructional design. In addition to his excellence in teaching, Moutard plays an important role in community engagement for the department as a presenter for the WSU planetarium. 

Award category for master’s student instructor: 

Cara Young, Master of Fine Arts student, Department of Art and Art History, College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts

Cara Young entered the art and art history program with a highly competitive Dean’s Diversity Scholarship, evidence of her excellence in creative research. She is a prolific artist and dedicates long hours to painting and other forms of artistic expression. Young designs assignments geared toward hands-on learning, creates material kits for online learning, takes part in peer mentoring and pedagogical discussions. Her teaching and artistic interests extend to the School of Medicine where she holds workshops in human figure sketching for anatomy students. Prior to her becoming a student at WSU, Young was an art instructor at The Art Place in Marietta, GA, where she worked with young artists engaging in a variety of media.