Washington State University expert receives the WSU Law award
The Washington State University Richard G. Law Excellence Award for Undergraduate Teaching for 2023 has been presented to Lisa Carloye, associate professor in biology.
The award honors faculty who teach in the University Common Requirements (UCORE) curriculum and help undergraduates progress toward achieving WSU learning goals.
“Dr. Carloye’s application stood out for the ways in which she brings to life the processes and concepts of science, using a wide variety of active pedagogical tools and practices that include sketching, mapping, creative group work, and even acting out concepts with household props like balloons, sponges, and plungers,” said Clif Stratton, UCORE director.
“It is said that she makes the material in her classes ‘more of a story to understand than terms to memorize.’”
The selection committee also noted Carloye’s work on UCORE assessment and her contributions to crafting newly redesigned learning goals for BSCI and PSCI “in ways that contribute to a student’s scientific literacy in assessable and meaningful ways,” Stratton said.
“The Law Award is really special to me — it aligns perfectly with my teaching passions, so it is a real honor to get selected for it,” said Carloye. “And what an honor to be presented with it by Dick Law himself and Clif.”
13th recipient
Carloye is the 13th recipient of the award since it was first presented in 2013 to honor its retired namesake. Law led the university’s UCORE — then called general education — program from 1990 to 2009. An English professor, he attended the April 13 ceremony with his wife, Fran. The Division of Academic Engagement and Student Achievement hosted the event.
Carloye joined the WSU faculty in 2005 after teaching at Elon University for nearly a decade. She earned her B.A. in history with an English minor at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Wash., and her M.S. and Ph.D. in entomology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Between her bachelor’s and master’s degrees, she took science classes at both WSU and the University of Washington. She is a second-generation WSU faculty member, as her late father, Jack Carloye, was a long-time professor of philosophy at WSU Pullman.
An award-winning educator, Carloye consistently pursues opportunities to further teaching and learning and to support the university and a variety of programs, said Stratton. For example, she received the President’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Non-tenure Track Faculty in 2016, was inducted in 2023 into the WSU Teaching Academy, served for many years as a First-year Focus instructor, is a LIFT (Lift. Inspire. Foster. Transform) Faculty Fellow in the provost’s office, and a WORD! Fellow in the Writing Program.
In addition to her numerous presentations and publications, Carloye has served as an annual SURCA undergraduate research judge since 2006 and an Honors College thesis and proposal reviewer since 2007. She has received three Smith Teaching and Learning grants related to undergraduate education since 2007, and both Common Reading and Learning Communities awards. She serves on the Eastlick Lab Renovation Committee, the UCORE Committee, and the School of Biological Science’s Undergraduate Program Committee.