The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) have named Madison Area Technical College’s Dr. Kenneth Walz the 2010 Wisconsin Professor of the Year.
Dr. Walz was selected from more than 300 top professors in the United States. The U.S. Professors of the Year program salutes the most outstanding undergraduate instructors in the country—those who excel as teachers and influence the lives and careers of their students. It is recognized as one of the most prestigious awards honoring undergraduate teaching.
Walz is a Chemistry and Engineering Instructor at Madison College and was nominated by the College’s Dean of the Center for Arts and Sciences. Walz is also the Director for the Consortium for Education in Renewable Energy Technology, an Adjunct Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an Adjunct Professor of the K-12 Energy Education Program at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
“Whether he is providing instruction to his students, educating our faculty about renewable energy, conducting research, improving energy education or working with students to promote the use of solar energy among international communities, Dr. Walz is nothing short of impressive,” says Dr. Bettsey Barhorst, Madison Area Technical College President. “I am very proud of him and we are lucky to have him here on our faculty.”
CASE and the Carnegie Foundation have been partners in offering the U.S. Professors of the Year awards program since 1981. Criteria for the award include extraordinary dedication to undergraduate teaching demonstrated by excellence in an impact on and involvement with undergraduate students.
“I’m so honored to receive this award but really the ultimate measure of my success is the ability of my students to achieve their goals and realize their dreams after they have left my classroom,” says Walz.
This year’s selection process resulted in 38 state winners. Walz was selected from faculty members nominated by colleges and universities throughout the country.
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Madison Area Technical College serves approximately 40,000 individuals annually, providing “real world smart” education through a comprehensive curriculum of technical, liberal arts and sciences, adult basic education and continuing education, as well as customized training for employers.
