Dr. Sarah Brownlee receives CLAS Teaching Award

Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Brownlee, who received a 2016-2017 Wayne State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Teaching Award, with special designation for mentoring undergraduate research.

Dr. Brownlee is an excellent and dedicated teacher. More than that, she is that rare individual who inspires each student to do his or her best and to raise their own expectations of themselves. She has been recognized for her achievements as a teacher-scholar with an NSF CAREER Award - a prestigious award "in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization."

Since joining the WSU geology faculty in 2011, Sarah has taught and put an interactive spin on numerous courses - Geology 1010; Structural Geology; Applied Geophysics; Team Research and Mathematical Methods in Earth Science. Team Research is a particularly innovative hands-on course that Sarah developed as part of her NSF CAREER award where students work in teams to conduct a field-based research project - on a six-day field trip -and then present their work at the end of the semester as part of a research symposium.

Sarah has also successfully graduated five M.S. students - with two of them published as co-authors on peer-reviewed publications with her. Her impact on the department can be simply put as by one of our students: "Her passion for geology and science brings an eagerness to learn out of students."

Sarah joins three other WSU geology faculty members who have been honored with CLAS teaching awards in the past: Dr. Larry Lemke (2012-2013), Dr. Jeff Howard (2010-2011), and Dr. Ed van Hees (2007-2008), which demonstrates a consistent and longstanding commitment to educational excellence in our department.