Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences has recognized seven faculty members for outstanding teaching in 2023.
Named recipients of the college's Community of Teaching Excellence Award were John Coupland, professor of food science; Francisco Dini-Andreote, assistant professor of phytobiomes; Justine Lindemann, assistant professor of community development and resilience; Michael Mashtare, assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering; Michael Mohney, associate teaching professor of plant science; and Elsa Sanchez, professor of horticultural systems management.
In addition, Kirsten Lloyd, assistant teaching professor of plant science, received the Paul R. and Joan M. Shellenberger Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, which recognizes full-time instructors with teaching appointments (not on tenure track).
John Coupland joined the food science faculty in 1998. Among his primary teaching responsibilities are a general-education course titled Food Facts and Fads, the lab-intensive upper-level course Food Chemistry and the theory-based graduate course Food Physical Chemistry.
Robert Roberts, head of the Department of Food Science, noted that Coupland “demonstrates a deep commitment to the art and practice of teaching and, most importantly, his students. His performance and effort are driven by his desire for students to make connections between concepts, practice and understanding. Because of his approach to teaching, students can go beyond reciting facts and trivia and travel a path to better understanding the ‘why.’”
Francisco Dini-Andreote has been a member of the plant science faculty since 2019. He teaches an undergraduate-level class in agroecology and a self-developed graduate-level class in community ecology.
Erin Connolly, head of the Department of Plant Science, noted that evaluations by both students and peers have been outstanding each year. “He is an exceptionally skilled, innovative and dedicated educator,” she said. “Since arriving at Penn State, he has embraced his teaching role through formal classroom instruction of both undergraduate and graduate students and has been working with several graduate students as their mentor in his research program. Clearly, he is dedicated to training the next generation of plant scientists via multiple avenues.”
Since Justine Lindemann started at Penn State in 2019, she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses covering various aspects of community development, economic development, social and environmental responsibility, and local knowledge and democracy. David Abler, interim head of the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education, said she is a dynamic educator who is deeply committed to student-centered learning.
“Dr. Lindemann also works to develop courses that privilege marginalized voices and alternative knowledge systems, thus providing a more welcoming learning environment for students from diverse backgrounds,” he said. “She has also made significant contributions to enhancing our department’s culture of teaching excellence and catalyzing the professional development and teaching effectiveness of other faculty.”
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