Her passion and really how much she cares about the students is what makes
her such an amazing teacher.
He's so on the pulse with what is going
on with students and he really cares about knowing what's going on with us.
I think she's a once-in-a-lifetime mentor.
He has like, sincere. real-life advice.
She was there for me and she was instrumental in where I am right now.
He's a great example for who I want to be as I move on and become a
professor myself.
I nominated Dr. Cunningham because, you know, regardless of what people go into
after they go through her m3 rotation, they are better physicians whenever they
come out of med school because she was a part of their life.
I mean I think we all
have people in our lives that that really moved us, it's pretty humbling to
think that I could have had that effect on someone else.
I think she inspires me
because of the way that she interacts with her patients. She is totally devoted
to making sure that they have the best quality of life going forward.
I do think that we're obligated not only to teach the content, but we also have to model the behavior.
I think the way that she interacts with patients is a template
for how I can interact with patients in the future and then how she teaches
students is how I want to teach students in the future, so, I want to grow up to be
just like her.
The fact that it's from the students validates all the efforts
that you have put in, I love what I do but if they love what I
do, how great is that?!
I nominated Dr. Lou Hirsch. I think he's he's brought a lot of energy to the
program and I think we need more people like him on campus and really in the
world.
To have a student mobilize to submit an application on my behalf, to
spend a lot of her free time to do something like that, it's just really
flattering.
He's so on the pulse with what is going
on with students and he really cares about knowing what's going on with us.
I'm 35 years old I have a two-year-old son. I'm I think very close to falling
off the pop culture wagon so I try and stay with what my students are
interested in to keep my content relevant. If it's not relevant there's so
many other distractions going on right now. A lot of them are working jobs, got to go
home to help with cattle, our students are busy and we've got to make it relevant.
Even when he feels like he's putting himself out there and being a bit of a
goofball trying to keep up with like the latest lingo or whatever, he goes for it
and I think it really makes a huge difference.
You give a man a fish, you can
teach him to fish, you know, we're kind of teaching these students to fish directly
in our program, which will hopefully allow them to have a tackle box full of
tools they'll be able to apply to anywhere they want to go. 10 or 15 or 20
years down the road, if I could run into someone and say, 'hey Dr. Hirsch, you
know, that helped,' or 'thank you for getting me where I am,' that, that'll be nice.
I nominated Dr. McNear, who is my adviser.
Well it comes from the students you know, it's
a student nominated award so that definitely it means a lot.
I think his background makes him a great teacher. He was a first-generation
college student and so I think he identifies with a lot of students on
campus who are still first-generation or don't know what exactly they want to do.
As a first-generation college student, you don't necessarily have your family
to look toward for to how to study, how to make your way through college, so I
understand the learning curve that takes place and I just really don't want them
to feel intimidated or afraid to ask me questions, so my philosophy is really
just that, to sort of break down that barrier and make them realize that we're
there together.
He has people come to his office to talk about things that are
happening in their personal lives, not just what's happening in class, so that
way he understands maybe why they didn't do as well on something and he works
with them to make sure that's no longer an obstacle they have to deal with alone.
Education is one of those things that can't really be taken away from you so
it's nice to give that to them.
I nominated Dr. Darshak Patel. He's the
best teacher in Gatton and all over the University of Kentucky,
This has to be
one of my favorite, favorite, favorite moment of my life.
My main number one motivation is seeing students succeed.
I love his teaching style, I love how much
he cares about his students. He knows when a student doesn't understand what's
happening and he knows how to explain it in like a thousand different ways until
this student does understand it.
We have a very wide spectrum of students and
it's my job to try and make sure that the whole wider spectrum is given the
same opportunities to succeed. He inspires me to like, be better and do
better and get involved.
Winning this award feels like homecoming. When I
accepted the job to come back to the University of Kentucky it was like a
dream job. I truly enjoyed my four years in graduate program. To be able to be
recognized as one of the educators for the whole University of Kentucky
is just a dream come true. On top of that, to be able to be recognized at a
basketball game in Rupp when the team's actually playing that day - I would have never
imagined that would have ever come true, so thank you, Alumni Association for the
making that happen.
I nominated Dr. Martha Riddell for the Great Teacher Award because I believe
she deserves that award above all people.
Well, it made it particularly meaningful and
affirming at the same time that, you know, what we we're doing is helping students achieve.
In transitioning into graduate school, she was extremely instrumental and
pivotal in guiding me.
The students energize and inspire us and and I have
the great fortune of really working with the students across the entire program.
I see them when they're deciding to come, when they're in class. I see them in an
internships and as they look for positions. So, I'm biased but I think
they're great. I can quote Coach Cal and say 'I love my team!'
Dr. Riddell taught me to genuinely care and I hope to continue that message to carry
with me wherever I go because I think it's, it's really important for me as a
future healthcare provider or administrator to show that compassion to people.
My own teaching philosophy is to help students achieve their potential
and that is an extraordinary responsibility, helping students find
their calling find their strengths for service is truly extraordinary.
So I nominated Anna Viktorovna for the Great Teacher Award and I nominated her
just because of the impact she's had on me and my life.
I was so happy, I was so
happy to to receive this award.
Her passion for the language and her love of
the culture and just the way she teaches convinced me to become a dual degree student.
I was teaching since 1982 and it was in Russia, it was in Germany and
finally, it happened here but I couldn't teach right away when I arrived here
because I couldn't speak English at all.
Knowing that she knows so many languages
and she's, I mean she came to America and learned English through pure
immersion. That's very courageous. It's very inspiring just to know that she
could do such a thing and I'd love to be able to pull something like that off.
I like to be with young people. For me that's our future so I'm I'm very happy
to be part of University of Kentucky. I think it's the best part in my life to
teach here and be with my students. Thank you so much
to my students, to my colleagues, to University of Kentucky.