Skip to main content

Six Purdue educators receive 2007 Murphy Awards

2007-04-16

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Six exemplary teachers were honored with 2007 Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Awards in Memory of Charles B. Murphy at the April 15 Honors Convocation in Elliott Hall of Music.

The six honored educators were Patricia Hart, Christine Hrycyna, Robert May, Timothy Newby, Richard Thomas and Karen Yehle.

The Murphy is given annually in recognition of outstanding teaching in all phases of undergraduate instruction at the West Lafayette campus. The university's highest undergraduate teaching honor, the Murphy is accompanied by a $10,000 cash award.

The winners' names will be engraved in the Book of Great Teachers, a plaque in Purdue Memorial Union that honors the best teachers throughout Purdue's history.

The 2007 Murphy Award winners are:

*  Hart, professor of Spanish. A faculty member in the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures since 1987, Hart has been recognized for her teaching excellence by her department and her college. One of her students said, "The outside-of-class activities were awesome, especially the films, and also going for the class tour of 'Invisible Mexican Lafayette.' I wouldn't have known it was there otherwise!"

"She clearly understands that meaningful one-to-one interactions between students and their professors can be life-changing experiences," said Paul Dixon, department head. "Over the years, I have observed her pour much time and effort into such interactions. In this sense, she is surely one of the most generous members of our department."

Hart said she enjoys "helping students 'read' the world by reading great literature and film. I want them to imagine what it feels like to be someone else. The best test of this is when we can go from studying plays and poems in class to crossing the Wabash River and performing service projects in Spanish in the local community."

Patricia Hart
Patricia Hart