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Gee honors two at Marion Campus
By KURT MOORE
The Marion Star
The Marion Star/Kurt Moore
(Ohio State University President Gordon Gee, center, presents the Ohio State Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching to psychology professor Tracy Tylka, right, and mathematics professor Bishun Pandey, left, on Monday at Morrill Hall. )
MARION - Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee presented the Ohio State Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching to two Ohio State University at Marion faculty members during his visit to the Marion Campus on Monday.
Psychology professor Tracy Tylka and mathematics professor Bishun Pandey are among this year's 10 recipients of the award, presented annually to honor faculty members for superior teaching. Marion faculty have received the award 14 times, more than any other of Ohio State's four regional campuses, OSUM director of communications Wayne Rowe said.
Recipients are nominated by present and former students and colleagues and are chosen by a committee of alumni, students and faculty.
They receive a cash award of $3,000 and a $1,200 increase in their base salaries. They are also inducted into the university's Academy of Teaching.
Gee presented the award to Tylka during a Monday morning psychology class, interrupting the class as he walked in with a contingent of staff including Ohio State University Alumni Association President Archie Griffin.
Gee announced he had two awards as he turned to Pandey, who is also the associate dean of Marion's regional campus and was among the staff present when Tylka made the award.
"One of your students said you could teach a brick mathematics," said Gee.
Tylka thanked colleagues, faculty, staff and students.
"I really think it's an interaction between their efforts and my motivation to be the best teacher and researcher I can be," she said.
Pandey, who has taught on both the Marion campus and at OSUM's Delaware Center, also said he was honored.
"I like my students," he said. "I feel that I work for them."
Tylka is the third OSUM psychology professor to win the award and joins two-time winner Dan Christie and three-time winner Terry Pettijohn.
Other recipients include Spanish and comparative studies professor Franklin Proaño, English professors Anne Bower, David Citino, Scott DeWitt and Stuart Lishan, art history teacher Tim McNiven, geology professor Teresa Mensing and history professor Vladimir Steffel.