Biology professor receives UNC Charlotte’s top teaching honor
Professor of Biological Sciences Stanley Schneider is the 2015 recipient of the Bank America Award for Teaching Excellence, one of UNC Charlotte’s most prestigious honors.
He received the award during a special ceremony Friday, Sept. 18, at Bank of America’s Founders Hall. Schneider and the other four award finalists, John Beattie, assistant professor of special education and child development in the College of Education; Moutaz Khouja, professor of business information systems and operations management in the Belk College of Business; Mohamed Shehab, associate professor of software and information systems in the College of Computing and Informatics; and Beth Whitaker, associate professor of political science and public administration in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences; were lauded for their sustained commitment to teaching excellence.
Prior to naming the recipient, Provost Joan Lorden discussed the finalists’ impact in the classroom. “Teaching excellence requires a strong sense of direction, but it also requires one to have the courage to risk getting lost in the wilderness every once in a while. Excellent professors motivate students to harness their own creativity and resourcefulness so that they are able seek answers to important questions, view the world differently and change lives for the better.”
As a teacher, Schneider’s goal is to change the way students think about and live on Earth. “I want them to experience awe and a sense of privilege and responsibility for living on this planet.”
Schneider’s passion for animal behavior, social insects (especially honey bees) and the evolution of social behavior is infectious, and his students thrive under his guidance.
According to Schneider, teaching is a social interaction. It is the contagious enthusiasm of the teacher that captures students’ imagination and helps them dream, he stated. Excellent teachers are rigorous, fair and demonstrate respect for students by holding them to high standards of performance by providing clear, organized and relevant lectures, he added.
As part of his role as instructor, Schneider exposes students to the process of conducting research as he views this as the primary means by which students learn how new information is generated and synthesized into an existing body of knowledge. Since joining the UNC Charlotte faculty in 1985, Schneider has worked with approximately 140 graduate and undergraduate students through individualized instruction, many of whom have gone on to become productive biologists, teachers, researchers and entrepreneurs.
Because of his research on honey bees, Schneider frequently is invited to give talks to beekeeping associations and gardening and birding clubs. Given the worldwide decline of pollinators, he sees these talks as one of the most important public services he can provide.
Schneider completed a doctorate in animal behavior from the University of California at Davis in 1984. His bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology are from Texas State University.
The UNC Charlotte Bank of America Award for Teaching Excellence was first presented in 1968 to recognize outstanding faculty members at the University. It was established in response to a suggestion by the staff of the student literary magazine