Bommer Receives Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Award
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August 13, 2014
Dr. Paul Bommer, Chevron Lecturer in Petroleum Engineering and senior lecturer, will receive the 2014 Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards, the highest teaching honor bestowed by the University of Texas System Board of Regents. It is one of the nation’s largest monetary teaching recognition programs in higher education.
In total, 27 faculty members from The University of Texas at Austin will receive the award, which honors outstanding performance in the classroom and dedication to innovation in undergraduate instruction.
“Learning is accomplished if the student can be convinced that the material is valuable,” said Bommer. “The best delivery of the material engages the student, normally through the Socratic Method or variations on this notion. The teacher should always present a friendly yet thoroughly knowledgeable personality in order to achieve the best result.”
The recipients will receive a total of $2.4 million from the UT System’s 15 academic and health institutions, with $25,000 awarded to each recipient. They will be honored during a ceremony Wednesday, Aug. 20, at the Shirley Bird Perry Ballroom in the Texas Union at UT Austin.
Bommer will use his $25,000 award to establish an endowed scholarship to support students, called the Dr. and Mrs. Paul M. Bommer Endowed Scholarship in Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering.
Created in 2008, the Regents’ Outstanding Teaching Awards program recognizes educators who deliver the highest quality of instruction in the classroom, the laboratory, the field or online.
Faculty members undergo a series of rigorous evaluations by students, peer faculty members and external reviewers. The review panels consider a range of activities and criteria in their evaluations, including outstanding teaching, mentoring, personal commitment to students and motivating students in the classroom.
“UT Austin places a very high value on classroom teaching,” said UT Austin President Bill Powers. “I am pleased that the UT System is recognizing these 27 individual faculty members for their performance as teachers and their commitment to their students.”
