Klein College of Media and Communication professors Nancy Morris and Jan Gera won Faculty Teaching, Research and Creative Awards handed out by Temple University. Morris won the university’s most prestigious honor, the Great Teaching Award, and Gera won the Part-Time Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Instruction Award.
Nancy Morris, Great Teaching Award
Morris, who teaches in the Department of Media Studies and production, has served as a faculty member at Temple University since 1999. Before that, she taught at the University of Stirling in Scotland. In 2002 Morris was the Unesco Communications Chair at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain, and in 2012 she received a Fulbright Scholar Award for teaching and research in Chile.
She said the transition from teaching abroad to teaching in the United States was never difficult.
“Since I spent my whole life in the U.S. except for that, it was fairly straightforward,” she said.
Although Morris never intended to become a professor when she was younger, she said she fell in love with higher education while earning her doctorate in communications at the University of Pennsylvania. She also earned her master’s degree there after earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Latin American studies at the University of New Mexico
Years later, she raved about her interactions in her time at Temple.
“So many great students and great colleagues,” she said. “I think all of us feel like it’s our actual students that make the experience important. The students are so great, energetic and thoughtful.”
Morris was awarded the Lindback Distinguished Teaching Award in 2015. The Great Teaching Award provides a $15,000 stipend to the recipient along with a sculpture and framed certificate. Her name will also be engraved on the Great Teachers Wall in Founder's Garden.
At the award ceremony, Klein College Dean David Boardman introduced Morris with the following remarks.
It has been 20 years since a member of our College’s faculty was last honored with a Great Teacher Award. The year we last won, a new assistant professor walked into Annenberg Hall for the first time to join our faculty. Today, that professor, Dr. Nancy Morris of the Department of Media Studies and Production, is being honored as our next Great Teacher.
Over those two decades, Dr. Morris has become an icon in our college as that rare person who loves both research and teaching and excels at each. Dr. Morris’s scholarly expertise is a critical approach to the study of Latino media and music. We could be honoring her here today for her scholarship, and it has in fact received myriad national and international honors, including her being both a Fulbright and a UNESCO Scholar. But it is her tireless dedication to teaching – and to her students, both undergraduate and graduate – that most distinguishes her.
A faculty colleague put it so beautifully I am compelled to quote him: “It's not just that she dedicates so much time and effort to designing, redesigning and updating courses, that she's always prepared for classes, that she uses group exercises even in large classes to engage the students, that she holds office hours both in her office and in public places on campus, that she teaches her TAs to teach, that she's always prepared for thesis and dissertation defenses and comes with specific detailed written feedback, that she helps struggling grad students finish their degrees not by lowering standards but by giving the students the guidance they need … that she always has time to deal with individual ‘student issues’ in a fair and caring way. It's not just all of this that makes her a great teacher, it's Nancy's constant, consistent dedication to treating all students from freshmen to Ph.D. students not as employees or inferiors or inconvenient obligations but as important individuals who deserve respect and fairness on their own journeys through Temple and their own lives. To Nancy, our first obligation as faculty isn't to an institution or even scholarship, but to our students. That’s the foundation that makes her a truly great teacher.”
Indeed. Nancy is a truly great teacher, and a treasure of the Klein College and of Temple University. On behalf of our students and your colleagues, thank you and congratulations, Dr. Morris.
Jan Gera, Part-Time Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Instruction Award
Gera has served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations since 2012 and teaches Intro to Marketing and Media Planning at Klein College. She has her own business, Gera Media Consulting, where she acts as a media and marketing consultant.
She’s always had a passion for teaching. While Gera Media Consulting allowed her to work from home and raise her kids, when they grew up, she said she knew she wanted to teach. To do that, she brushed up on modern media skills.
“It pushed me out of my comfort zone in a good way,” she said. “Now I can bring it to the class and talk about what we’re working on in a digital space.”
Gera will receive a stipend and a plaque for the Part-Time Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Instruction Award.
At the ceremony, Boardman expressed his admiration in an introduction. His unedited remarks follow.
I am pleased to recognize Jan Gera, Adjunct Instructor in Advertising and Public Relations.
In the Klein College of Media and Communication, adjunct professors play an essential role. Nearly all of our adjuncts are media professionals still working in their fields, and they help us, our faculty and our students keep up with the latest developments in their fast-changing industries. For nearly all of them, serving as part-time instructors is a way to give back, and nearly all of them seem to savor the experience. None more so than our honoree, Professor Gera.
In her other life, Jan has her own media-consulting firm. She brings to the classroom up-to-date media and marketing expertise, along with outstanding pedagogical skills and great personal warmth. Her students recognize how fortunate they are. Her reviews from them are outstanding, and include such gems as:
“I loved how enthusiastic Professor Gera was! Her genuine love of her subject meant that each class was both fun and educational. Her lectures were always interesting and I loved her style of teaching.” “She encourages participation and promotes a great learning environment. I enjoyed how we analyzed and learned about up-to-date material, products, and news. … This class made me think deeper and analyze more critically. I found myself being more creative.” On behalf of your Klein College colleagues, Jan, congratulations, and thank you.