COSAM Faculty Honored for Scholarship, Teaching

Chris Kitts, who serves as department chair, was honored for his high-caliber, innovative work in microbiology. His work has created unique learning opportunities for students in the biological sciences and has included collaboration with students and faculty from multiple colleges and departments.

Dean Phil Bailey called Kitts a role model for scholarship at Cal Poly. "Chris has taken leadership roles in many collaborative projects, sought and received large amounts of external funding, extensively involved students in his research, recognized them as co-authors on publications and taken them to numerous professional conferences to make presentations. He is truly fascinated by science, loves interdisciplinary efforts and has a gift of presenting his research to others."

Matt Ritter is known by his students for his passion and infectious enthusiasm. "The way he speaks intensifies botany like an electric guitar would, compared to an acoustic," said a student. "He's passionate about plants and their environments, and the enthusiasm is infectious."

The Distinguished Teaching Award Committee concurs that Ritter "manifests exemplary teaching across many modes of class, from the large lecture format to local field trips. He calls upon students by name even in large classes of 70 and has a manner of teaching that holds one's attention across media formats and full-scale materials brought to class. His field trips to local botanical sites are filled with anecdotal pieces of local and California history and comparisons with species around the world. He introduces formats of inspection and recognition, making the immediate commonplace world more sensual in terms of smell, touch and even taste for the student."

Emily Taylor is trusted by her students and lauded by her peers for engaging with her students while eliciting the very best from them. The Distinguished Teaching Award Committee praised her diligence in making sure her students understand the topic being discussed as well as the ethical imperative of scientists to do good research.

The committee commended her "outstanding use of media/technology and direct student feedback." They wrote, "Students seemed engaged at every moment of the classes, as Dr. Taylor links information to vivid description and, where appropriate, curricular issues with current events. Dr. Taylor is insightful to ask for all kinds of student interaction, including having them actively mimic the motions of creatures studied, creating a trans-species connection in space and locomotion, and executing lateral thinking in what may have caused evolutionary change in the species studied."