Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 5, 1991                   TAG: 9104060387
SECTION: FOUNDERS DAY                    PAGE: VT-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

BURGER FIRST WOMEN HONORED AS OUTSTANDING TEACHER OF FRESHMEN

The fact that Burger is the director of the Women's Research Institute at Virginia Tech makes that first even more appropriate, but it is her teaching that brought her the award.

Burger attempts to connect with the many students in her class by trying "to get students to be as interested in the discovery process of science as I am.

"Even though I'm giving them facts, I try to convey to them that someone found these facts out," Burger said. "We didn't always know these things."

Burger also tries to be there when students need her help, including writing many letters of recommendations each year, because the students know she will remember them and keep up with their lives. "I try to be a caring instructor,' she said.

Burger fills a dual role at Virginia Tech, teaching biology courses, including microbiology as well as freshman classes, and directing the Women's Research Institute, which supports research about women and disseminates that research to other disciplines. The two roles sometimes merge, as when she gives extra credit in her classes to students who write papers about women or minority scientists.

When the students complain that they can't find information about those scientists, Burger tells them that's part of the assignment: to discover what happened to the history of women and minority scientists. "It opens their eyes to the fact that not all scientists are white men in white coats," she said.

Burger, who first was educated as a chemist and hematologist, earned a Ph.D. in immunology from Virginia Tech in 1983. In 1982, she was awarded a Cunningham Fellowship.

She worked as a research associate in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Tech and as a visiting assistant professor of microbiology and immunology in 1989. Her research is in the functional and phenotypic changes in microphages from tumor-bearing mice.

Burger was an Affiliated Research Fellow from 1986 to 1989 and is faculty advisor to the Golden Key National Honor Society. She is a member of several professional organizations.