The Board of Trustees of the State University of New York has awarded Geneseo English Professor Beth McCoy the title of SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor.
From the SUNY press release:
The Distinguished Professorship recognizes and honors mastery of teaching. For this prestigious tribute to be conferred, candidates must have demonstrated consistently superior mastery of teaching, outstanding service to students, and commitment to their ongoing intellectual growth, scholarship and professional growth, and adherence to rigorous academic standards and requirements. Further, a faculty member must have attained and held the rank of full professor for five years, have completed at least three years of full-time teaching on the nominating campus, 10 years of full-time teaching in the System, and must have regularly carried a full-time teaching load as defined by the campus at the undergraduate, graduate, or professional level.
About Professor McCoy herself, the press release accurately observes:
Both students and other faculty extol [Professor McCoy’s] generosity as a mentor, and note that what they learn from her stays with them long after they leave her classroom or office. Professor McCoy … is highly skilled at bringing everyone in her classroom into the conversation regardless of their background or inclination to tackle difficult questions. Professor McCoy sets a high bar and assists her students in achieving beyond their own expectations. She has been successful in adapting this model to campus-wide teach-ins, which she introduced as a method of engaging the Geneseo community in national and local issues related to race, identity and privilege.
SUNY’s distinguished ranks represent the highest system honor conferred upon SUNY instructional faculty. All distinguished faculty in active service within SUNY also become members of the SUNY Distinguished Academy.
Professor McCoy joins Professors Ron Herzman and Gene Stelzig as active English department faculty members holding the rank of Distinguished Teaching Professor.