A professor of geology at University of North Carolina Wilmington has been recognized with a national teaching honor, UNCW announced last week.

Patricia Kelley was named U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching  and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). She is one of four faculty members nationwide so honored, according to a news release. There was also a group of 31 state-level winners as well.

The awards recognize professors for their excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring, the release stated.

Each of the four represents a segment of higher education, Kelley’s being master’s degree-granting universities. The other award recipients and the segment they represent are from Stanford University (doctoral and research universities), Pennsylvania State University Berks (baccalaureate colleges) and Monroe Community College (community colleges), the release stated.

CASE assembled a panel of judges comprised of deans, professors, education reporters and government and foundation representatives who selected 100 preliminary winners from all nominations submitted, the release stated. A second panel narrowed those to a group of 24 finalists. The Carnegie Foundation then appointed members of a third panel that selected the professors for the national categories and state winners.

“It is a great honor to be selected for this award,” Kelley said in the release. “The world of higher education has changed since I began teaching, but since my first day in the classroom, I’ve always worked to inspire my students to think critically and encourage their personal and professional growth.”
 
Earlier this year, Kelley received the 2014 Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, the highest honor given to faculty members in the UNC System for teaching excellence. Kelley is also the recipient of the Association for Women Geoscientists Outstanding Educator Award, as well as UNCW’s Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award, Distinguished Teaching Professorship Award and Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award, according to the release.