Jan Fernback, associate professor, was selected as this year’s recipient of the Great Teacher Award, Temple’s highest teaching award established in 1988 to recognize faculty members for their continuous excellence in teaching and acknowledge the interconnections between scholarly and teaching excellence.

A pioneer in the field of internet research whose work critically examines the role of digital media in contemporary social structures, Fernback closely fits the award’s description. Her teaching and mentoring are deeply informed by her research agenda and engagement with communication theory.

“Our departmental mission involves the merging of theory and practice, and this vision informs all of my teaching,” she explained. “In return, working with [students] has helped my own scholarship and writing as I’m compelled to refine my skills in helping them to prepare for post-graduate life.”

As a member of the Media and Communication (M&C) doctoral faculty for more than 25 years and as director of Klein College’s master's in media studies and production on and off for 15 years, Fernback has left a strong mark on Klein’s graduate programs and graduate education at Temple. She created M&C’s pedagogy course, Teaching in Higher Education: Communications, and helped develop Temple’s Teaching in Higher Education certificate. Teaching in Higher Education has been replicated by various programs across the university.

Her book, Teaching Communication and Media Studies: Pedagogy and Practice (Routledge, 2015), partly grew out of these efforts.

“I scrambled for material in the pedagogy course that was relevant to the communication field,” she said. “The book grew from my class; the class grew into the Teaching in Higher Education curriculum, and the certificate was the next step. It was such rewarding work.”

Generations of M&C students have benefited from Fernback’s mentoring in both teaching and research. She has chaired 11 Ph.D. dissertations, 10 master’s theses, 12 master’s projects and has served on an additional seven doctoral committees.

Fernback said she was elated when she received the phone call from President Frye in early February that let her know she had won.

“Teaching has always been the most meaningful part of my professional life” she said, “Receiving the Great Teacher Award is truly the pinnacle of my career. I am honored and humbled to be recognized for the work that matters most to me.”