Allyn Ontko Honored for Excellent Teaching |
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Allyn Ontko, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry, creates an ambiance for learning in his classroom that is recognized and appreciated by his students, colleagues and the administration, says John Vandel, University of Wyoming School of Pharmacy dean.
The recognition has earned Ontko the John P. Ellbogen Meritorious Classroom Teaching Award.
The other recipients are Alyson Hagy, associate professor in the Department of English; Marsha Fay Knight, professor in the Department of Theatre and Dance; Timothy Robinson, associate professor in the Department of Statistics; and Katrina Zook, associate professor in the Department of Music.
The awards are made possible by a fund established by Ellbogen to "foster, encourage and reward excellence in classroom teaching at UW." Winners are selected from a list nominated by students, and the awards are based entirely on classroom performance and helpfulness to students. A native of Worland, Ellbogen established an endowment for teaching awards in appreciation for his family and state's encouragement of education.
"This student appreciation is demonstrated by the wonderful comments and scores on (Ontko's) teaching evaluations," Vandel says. "This is especially commendable due to the difficulty of the courses he teaches."
During his five years at UW, Ontko has taught classes in problems in pharmacy, medicinal and natural products chemistry, clinical toxicology and pharmacology.
"Dr. Ontko is to this point in my education the best teacher I have ever had. He absolutely went above and beyond the call of duty in every category in which I personally ranked him in my student evaluations," a student says. "He is the most approachable instructor I have had. I felt he cared more about me personally and about my education. He always made me feel very welcome to ask questions and spend all the time with me that I needed. His attitude toward students is straight forward."
Another adds, "Dr. Ontko is one of the best professors I have had. He presents the material at an appropriate pace and is very knowledgeable about the subject matter. I would take another class from him any day."
A colleague says the School of Pharmacy recruited Ontko because of the impressive faculty record he had amassed at a previous institution.
"Frankly, the main reason we recruited Dr. Ontko so enthusiastically was because of his research productivity," says Bruce Culver, professor and director of pharmaceutical sciences. "Early in my association with Allyn, I formed the opinion that he had the potential to become an extraordinary teacher and this opinion has only been strengthened in the subsequent years."
Ontko's teaching style has received notice by others on campus as well. He has been a featured speaker on several occasions outside of his College of Health Sciences home.
"Since Allyn's research talks are concerned with medicinal chemistry, something our chemistry students (and faculty) know very little about, Allyn by necessity presents both his research and the background necessary for understanding it," says Dean M. Roddick, professor of chemistry. "Thus, his talks are indeed very educational in nature. These presentations have been utterly superb; not only can he easily and convincingly impart the background information, but he makes you excited about the topic as well."
Ontko received his B.S. (1990) in chemistry from the University of Minnesota, an M.S. (1993) in inorganic chemistry from UW and a Ph.D. (1997) degree in inorganic chemistry from Iowa State University. He has received several grants and funding for his research work during his professional tenure and has published numerous articles in refereed journals.
Photo
Allyn Ontko. (UW Photo) Posted on Tuesday, May 01, 2007
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