NW prof receives several recognitions
by Roxanna Latifi, reporter

     If there is anyone who could claim success, it would be Professor Laura Wood. In her 11th year on NW Campus, Wood was awarded both the Chancellor’s Award for Exemplary Teaching and the Minnie Stevens Piper Award this year.

     The recipient of the Chancellor’s Award is given this honor by being nominated by fellow faculty members, then voted on by a committee of former winners.

     Although the Piper Award is also given based on exemplary teaching, it is a rare award that many professors may not be nominated for.

     Professors are nominated by their colleagues and then chosen by faculty in a statewide competition. As many as 20,000 professors may be nominated, but only the top 10 are recipients in the state of Texas.

     Wood was overwhelmed with joy on receiving both of these awards.

     “It’s great just to be recognized by your peers, I never expected to be nominated,” she said.

     “There is a great sense of pride and honor (in winning these two awards). It has been a wonderful year!”

     Wood was also given the honor of speaking at the May 16 graduation.

     “Professor Laura Wood was the first teacher to speak at a graduation in the 20 years of my career,” Dr. Bill Lace, executive assistant to the chancellor, said.

     Wood hoped that her speech would inspire students to find passion in what they chose to do in life.

     In her speech, Wood used real life examples to teach students a very important moral in her speech.

     “I used a story I once heard from a Pearl Harbor survivor,” she said. “The survivor spoke about how he was able to push himself to go above and beyond of what was expected of him.”

Wood has found that motivation is a very important aspect in the classroom.

     “I know that the students are not excited (about taking history), but it is a required course, so I try to get them interested and motivated in the lesson,” she said.

     Just as she did in her graduation speech, Wood takes real-life examples from people in history and relates them to what students in her classes are going through in life.

     “I try to turn them on to things they normally wouldn’t be interested in,” she said.

     Wood takes her own advice in finding her passion in her teaching career.

     “In a lot of jobs that people have, they may never know if they are making a difference, but in teaching you do. It is a great job!” she said.