Professors honored by regents

Brigitte Ortiz | THE RIDER

The University of Texas System Board of Regents awarded two UTRGV professors the Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Award for their classroom performance and innovation. 

Teresa Patricia Feria, biology professor and Monica Reyes, former lecturer in the Department of Writing and Language Studies will receive a certificate, a medallion and $25,000 in appreciation of their impact on students and their institutions.

Nominees undergo a series of rigorous evaluations by students, peer faculty and external reviewers. The review panels consider a range of activities and criteria in their evaluations of a candidate’s teaching performance, including classroom expertise, curricula quality, innovative course development and student learning outcomes, according to the UT System website. 

Feria said when she received the email she was excited and happy to have been recognized. She had been nominated by one of her peers.

“When you find that you are nominated, in my case, it was an exciting moment because you’re seeing that other peers recognize the work that you are doing,” Feria said. “It’s very nice because you feel appreciated, I feel like all the people have seen my work and they like it so that is inspiring, that gives me motivation to continue doing what I do.” 

She began teaching at legacy institution the University of Texas-Pan American in 2008 and has taught undergraduate and graduate courses. She is proud that she has been able to design most of the courses she teaches and enhances other courses by adding components such as service learning, bilingual courses and Collaborative International Learning (COIL) courses, according to the UTRGV Newsroom. 

Kristine Lowe, professor and chair for the Biology Department said Feria was originally hired for landscape ecology, a branch of ecology that looks at a very large system in the ecosystem. 

“Over the years she has added to the type of courses that she teaches and the way in which she teaches them,” Lowe said. “Now, she has created new courses. She has developed community engagement courses and she incorporates community service into most of her courses.” 

She said Feria is the type of faculty member who puts students first. 

“I thought it was very well deserved when she received the ROTA award. I think she’s one of the types of teachers that epitomize what the best thing about that award is.”   

Monica Reyes had been with UTRGV since Fall 2015. Just as her teachers shared their excitement about their topics, she does the same with her students, sharing her passion for community service.

Reyes will start teaching at DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. She received the award when she was at UTRGV. 

Colin Charlton, professor and chair of Writing and Language Studies, said Reyes is the fourth in their department to receive the award. 

“I thought it was kind of bittersweet because I found out that she got the award about the same time that she told me she got hired at DePaul [University],” Charlton said.

He said Reyes has a good balance of dedication and caring. She is attentive in making sure students have a good experience in her class. 

“She embraced what meant to be a writing teacher and help students become better communicators,” Charlton said. “I am thrilled that she got the award she greatly deserved it, and I know that she, even though she got the award here, and that she is moving into a new job, the award represents the impact that she had in this community and I have no doubt that she is going to have similar or greater impact at DePaul as well.”