Teaching Excellence: Watershed Sciences Deemed a 'Top School of Fish'

Faculty and staff members of Utah State University’s Department of Watershed Sciences received an exciting surprise after gathering for a March 28 legislative outcomes presentation. As the meeting drew to a close, USU President Stan Albrecht and Raymond Coward, provost and executive vice president, announced the department had been selected for the university’s 2011 Department Teaching Excellence Award.

“The Department of Watershed Sciences has consistently upheld the highest teaching standards to, first and foremost, assure the success of its students,” Albrecht said. “On behalf of the university, I present this award with sincere congratulations.”

In a written citation, the department was praised for “never (wavering) in its commitment to make students aware of human impacts in the natural world and our responsibility for stewardship of the planet’s environment and its precious natural resources.”

The citation described Watershed Sciences’ pedagogical model, which is “based on the integration and synthesis of knowledge to build critical thinking skills and to link discovery, creativity and engagement through laboratory and field-based investigations.”

To Erin Fleming, an undergraduate fisheries and aquatic sciences major, the award is no surprise.

“I’ve always thought that I was in one of the greatest departments on campus,” says Fleming, a Quinney Scholar and University Undergraduate Research Fellow. “As students, we have the great privilege of being taught by top scientists, who are 100 percent interested in their individual students’ success.”

Undergraduate Todd Wright, president of USU’s student chapter of the American Fisheries Society, echoes Fleming’s praise of the department.

“As a non-traditional student, I wasn’t sure if returning to school was the right path for me,” says Wright, a married 30-something with kids. “But after one visit with advisor Brian Shirley and department head Chris Luecke, I felt confident I’d found the right program. The faculty and staff in Watershed Sciences have been welcoming and top-notch in helping me accomplish goals that I didn’t think were possible.”

Ryan Lokteff, a master’s student in watershed science, says WATS faculty members are excellent teachers who encourage students to think critically and readily give extra help when needed.

“All of the department’s faculty challenge students to meet high standards, while giving students the tools they need to succeed,” Lokteff says.

Outside of class, faculty members participate in departmental social activities, he says, which makes the department “a true community.”

Alum Michelle Kang, who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in watershed and earth sciences in May 2010, says the undergraduate research opportunities she was offered through WATS were highlights of her USU experience.

“Finding employment within the department beginning in my sophomore year provided a wide range of learning experiences,” says Kang, who is pursuing graduate study. “Field work, lab work, project design and the inevitable challenges that come with research — that’s what I cherish most about my undergraduate experience.”

Watershed Sciences offers undergraduate degree programs in geography, watershed and earth systems and fisheries and aquatic sciences. Master’s and doctoral degrees are offered in ecology, fisheries biology and watershed science, with specializations in aquatic ecology, conservation biology and fisheries management.

WATS graduates are admitted to competitive graduate school programs and hired into varied positions in state and federal wildlife, fisheries and conservation management agencies, as well as private industry.

The Department Teaching Excellence Award was established and first presented at USU in spring 2003. Members of the 2011 award selection committee included previous Outstanding Teacher of the Year award recipients Jeff Doyle, committee chair, and Ed Stafford; previous Department Teaching Award recipients Sandi Gillam and Dave Wallace; undergraduates Weston Cook, Hesper Kohler and Brandon Martin; graduate students Robert Heaton and Brooke Robertshaw; Faculty Senate representatives Terry Messmer, Jeff Smitten and Thomas Schroeder; Office of the VP for Information Technology representative Kevin Reeve; Board of Trustees representative Suzanne Pierce-Moore and Office of the Provost representative Larry Smith and Office of the Provost staff assistant Kim Doyle.

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