Chemical and Biological Engineering graduate student Kiva Forsmark has been presented with an Iowa State University Teaching Excellence Award for her work as a Teaching Assistant in ChE 381, Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics. Her nomination was initiated by Professor Jean-Philippe Tessonnier, with Professors Matthew Panthani and Yue Wu co-signing the nomination.
Forsmark was assigned to work with the class for fall semester 2014. The class was broken into two sections to accommodate an enrollment of 120 students. Prof. Tessonnier reported that in addition to holding office hours, she prepared new homework problems, supervised two graders, and made sure that homework was consistent across sections.
With a growing interest in working with students and a passion for teaching the subject matter, she sought permission from the professors to give lectures on a regular basis and was allowed to do so, teaching several times in Prof. Tessonnier’s and Prof. Panthani’s classes. Based on her performance as an instructor, she was given the opportunity to teach both sections of the class together in an auditorium while professors were away for a conference. Tessonnier reported that several students contacted him to praise her performance in handling these large group lectures.
Forsmark was also praised for establishing initiatives for improving student success in the course, including providing special tutorial sessions to help students master computer techniques that the class required. A number of students reportedly took advantage of this and it allowed them to learn the computer program faster and spend more time understanding the core concepts of the class.
The professors were also impressed by Forsmark’s decision to offer extended office hours and late study sessions for students the night before each exam. The professors reported a significant decrease in the number of lower student grades on exams due to these sessions.
The department congratulates Kiva Forsmark for her passion in teaching this subject matter and for her personal interest in seeing students succeed.