Faculty Awards for Teaching
Baldini, Fred
Received the CSUS Outstanding Teacher Award
Modell, Scott J.
2004 Distinguished Faculty Service Award, CSUS Alumni Association. Presented by the Alumni Association. March 25 th, 2004.
Park, Jennifer
Recognized instructor within “Outstanding Program” awarded by the Sacramento Association for the Retarded to the Department of Kinesiology and Health Science for the successful inclusion of adults with disabilities in aerobic and fitness classes.
Awarded with a Faculty Merit Increase by President of University for teaching excellence.
Seid, Melinda
Sacramento Educational Cable Consortium, Award of Appreciation for Live Educational Cable Course
CHHS Outstanding Teaching Award Nominee.
Solomon, Gloria B.
Senior Appreciation Program, nominated by M. Kelli Cook, undergraduate student, submitted monetary gift to TCU in my name, 1998
TCU Preferred Professor Award, nominated by Honor's student Kristina Underwood, 1998
CU Preferred Professor Award, nominated by Honor's student Carrie Macek, 1997
Valdez, Lindy
The Outstanding Teaching Award affirms the University's commitment to quality teaching. It is given each year to one professor from each of the University's seven Colleges. Lindy Valdez received this award for the 2001-02 school year. Read his profile here: http://www.csus.edu/news/people/outstanding/02Valdez.html
College of Health and Human Services - Lindy Valdez, Department of Kinesiology and Health Science
Ask kinesiology professor Lindy Valdez what he teaches and you'll get a pretty good sense of what's important to him. "I tell people I teach students," he says. "They're the focus, more than the subject matter."
That may be one reason Valdez was named the most recent Outstanding Teacher for the College of Health and Human Services.
"The thing that has been really special about receiving the award is that you usually never get to say what you think is good teaching," Valdez says. "It gives you a chance to share your beliefs."
Valdez was also thrilled when he got to give the commencement speech at the Health and Human Service's May ceremony, the same College he graduated from. "My perspective is different. I was a student here and now I'm faculty. I know what it's like to be a student on campus," he says.
When Valdez started as a student in 1978, he says he didn't visualize he'd be a "Hornet for life," and jokes, "I guess if you hang around here long enough they put you to work." He even met his wife in the same kinesiology class for education majors he now teaches.
After earning both a teaching credential and a master's degree, he spent 16 years in public schools teaching physical education and completed a doctorate at the University of Southern California. He then discovered there was a need at CSUS for professors with real world experience. The kinesiology faculty created a position for him in 1990 and he's been here ever since, first as part-time faculty and then full-time for the last four years.
Getting to know his students is a must for Valdez. "When my evaluations said that I was one of the few professors who knew all of their names, I was surprised - because I also know their backgrounds, their jobs," he says.
In fact, the woman who nominated him this year was a student he's known since elementary school. He was her teacher when he was teaching K-6, again when they both transferred to junior high and once again now that she's aspiring teacher herself.
"The relationship I have with my students is not all theory. I tell them 'This is what I experienced,'" he says. "My teaching philosophy is to remove myself from the process as much as possible. I let the students practice talking in front of others. When I listen to them, it has as much impact as what I say."
He also likes working with new faculty. "I have colleagues who are new to teaching who stop by to talk to me about approaches to teaching," he says. "Many are like I was when I started - new to campus but not new to teaching and learning. I like being able to share that."
Valdez functions as a bridge between teacher education and kinesiology. His major responsibility is to teach liberal studies and child development majors how to teach physical education. "I liked teaching in public school but I wanted to teach the teachers, so I could have a more widespread impact," he says.
"Teachers tend to teach the way they were taught. I want them to teach physical education so that kids will enjoy it and be involved for a lifetime."
He is also the secondary education credential program coordinator.
Valdez's research focuses on attitudes toward physical education and on ways to increase activity level while maintaining a positive outlook. "You can make kids exercise, but if they don't like it, it can turn them off to movement for life," he says.
He also looks at ways to blend physical education with other academic disciplines. Last year he developed a series of games based on the Harry Potter series that encouraged movement and reading at the same time.
ROBERTO QUINTANA, kinesiology and health science, was awarded a $1,000 Service Learning Award to implement service learning in the exercise science curriculum in spring 2001.
