UMass Amherst SPHHS Recognizes Outstanding Teaching Award Recipients and Scholarship Award Winners
The School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) has announced the recipients of the 2023-2024 Outstanding Teaching and Student Scholarship awards and Delta Omega Honor Society Rho Chapter inductees at the school’s end-of-the-year excellence celebrations during the past month.
Elizabeth Cook, a senior lecturer in epidemiology, received the school’s 2023-24 College Outstanding Teacher Award (COTA) at its Senior Recognition Ceremony on May 19. The COTA is co-administered by the UMass Amherst Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and given annually to one member of each college’s faculty who demonstrates excellence and creativity in teaching, a positive impact on their students and a mastery of their subject.
During the 2023-24 academic year, Cook taught two undergraduate courses, PUBHLTH 224: Epidemiology in Public Health and SPHHS 150: Great Challenges in Public Health, and two new courses in the graduate Master of Public Health curriculum, SPHHS 615 and SPHHS 616.
Cook notes that her teaching philosophy is centered around the core values of connection, relevance, humility and trust. Most of the courses she has taught have been required for most, if not all, of the students enrolled. For some students, this may have been the course they’ve been looking forward to for years; for others, this required course may be viewed as a major speed bump on their path to a degree in another area of public health.
“This means that students come to the class from a variety of academic, professional and personal backgrounds – all with different goals,” Cook says. “My challenge is to find a way to inspire all of them. I just hope that my students learn that they are active partners in their learning and that I am invested in their success. I’d love for everyone to leave my classes thinking like an epidemiologist!”
SPHHS also announced Rong Fan, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Nutrition, is the winner of the annual Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award. Over the past year, Fan served as an instructor for Nutrition 130: Nutrition/Healthy Lifestyle in the fall and as the head teaching assistant in the spring.
“I am thrilled and deeply honored to have received this award,” Fan says. “It means so much to me as it acknowledges my dedication to teaching. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to teach and for my wonderful students. This award inspires me to continue improving and to find new and exciting ways to make learning both enjoyable and inspiring.”
SPHHS also honored a group of over 50 undergraduate and graduate students during its annual Awards Celebration on May 4. Scholarship and award recipients were recognized for outstanding achievements in the classroom, in research and through service to the community.
As part of the celebration, the Delta Omega Honor Society Rho Chapter at UMass Amherst inducted its 2024 cohort of new members who were nominated in faculty, alumni, graduate student and undergraduate student categories. The honorary society for the study of public health, Delta Omega encourages excellence in student scholarship and research, recognizes academic achievement and provides members with leadership development, publication and networking opportunities.