Assistant Professor at University of Southern Colorado Wins Sba Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award

A leader of teaching innovation at the University of Southern Colorado has been selected recipient of the 1999 State Board of Agriculture Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award. Margaret Barber, assistant professor of English and foreign languages, received the award today at the SBA’s meeting at Colorado State University.

Other recipients of the SBA award included Dale Hein, professor of fishery and wildlife biology at Colorado State University, and history Professor Doreen Hunter from Fort Lewis College.

USC administrators said that Barber is among the leaders in technological innovation in teaching at USC and has become a leader in the field of computers and writing.

From co-editing the field’s central journal to publishing necessary research on using and documenting on-line resources, Barber has applied her research to find ways for students to better understand the use of the tools of modern rhetoric and composition. She typically teaches many composition sections in the MacLab to the benefit of many students.

Barber authored USC’s English and Foreign Languages Technology Plan and is a member of the University’s Teaching, Learning and Technology Roundtable because of her extraordinary understanding of on-line teaching.

In addition, she is involved with developing internships, supporting independent study and participating with student organizations and publications such as Sigma Tau Delta and the student literary magazine, called The Hungry Eye.

USC Provost Les Wong said: "Whether Barber is leading groups of students to England, to performances at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts or to Southern Colorado ecology sites, her educational exploration is not limited by the bounds of our institution. Margaret Barber epitomizes the best of innovative teaching for the 21st Century."