Spectrum - Volume 20 Issue 09 October 23, 1997 - Kraige named Virginia Professor of the Year

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Kraige named Virginia Professor of the Year

By Liz Crumbley

Spectrum Volume 20 Issue 09 - October 23, 1997

Virginia Tech engineering faculty member Glenn Kraige has been named the Virginia Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
Kraige, a professor of engineering science and mechanics (ESM) who joined the Virginia Tech faculty in 1975, was selected from among 15 nominees from nine Virginia colleges and universities. His teaching style is characterized as "careful and highly polished" by ESM Department Head Edmund Henneke, who nominated Kraige for the CASE award.
Kraige has received several teaching honors during his tenure at Tech, beginning with the ESM Outstanding Educator Award in 1977. He received the Virginia Tech Phillip Sporn Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Engineering Subjects in 1978; six years later, he received the William E. Wine Award for Outstanding University Teaching. Kraige was inducted into the Virginia Tech Academy of Teaching Excellence in 1984. The College of Engineering honored him with the Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1996.
He also has received several prestigious teaching awards outside the university. In 1988 the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) presented Kraige with the AT&T Foundation Award for Outstanding Teaching in the Southeastern Section of ASEE. During the same year, the State Council for Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) recognized Kraige with the Outstanding Faculty Award. In 1996, he received the Distinguished Educator Award from the Mechanics Division of ASEE.
Kraige, who earned his Ph.D. in aerospace engineering at the University of Virginia, has worked since 1983 on personal-computer software designed to aid in the instruction and learning of statics and dynamics. This work has been sponsored by SCHEV and the National Science Foundation.
Kraige co-authored the second, third, and fourth editions of Engineering Mechanics , an internationally recognized series of textbooks on statics and dynamics that enjoys a significant percentage of the market sales in this field.
The best endorsements for a faculty member's teaching abilities come from his students. A remark drawn from one of Kraige's teaching evaluations in an undergraduate course is typical of the value his students place on work in the classroom: "He earned my respect! Every day in class his complete mastery of the subject material, his skill in communicating that knowledge, his dedication to his students' learning, and his phenomenal level of professionalism were impressive. Without a doubt, Dr. Kraige is the best instructor I ever met."
CASE established the national Professor of the Year program in 1981 to recognize faculty members for dedication to and excellence in undergraduate teaching. This year, professors were honored in 48 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.
CASE is an international association of colleges, universities, and public schools. The Carnegie Foundation, a policy center located in Princeton, New Jersey, is dedicated to strengthening U.S. schools and universities.