Distinguished Professor Award, 2023
College of Professional Studies
The Granite State College Distinguished Faculty Award is given in recognition of excellence in teaching where recipients exemplify this distinction through the sharing of knowledge in a challenging but supportive learning environment and by demonstrating and inspiring lifelong learning in their students.
The last ever recipient of this award as Granite State College is Courtney Rice, program director for undergraduate health and wellness programs. Rice is an exemplar of the characteristics associated with this award, including a fierce dedication to student success, innovation in effective student learning strategies, meticulous attention to curriculum scaffolding, cultivation of deep industry partnerships, and a deep commitment to career preparation.
Rice also serves as a leader on the college’s Assessment Task Force which explores ways to expand the college’s robust Institutional Outcomes Assessment initiative. In the years since adoption of this framework, Rice has regularly trained her faculty on how to conduct assessments, as she has also sought and integrated their feedback on the rubric itself.
Her colleagues describe Rice as a leader, a scholar-practitioner, and a dedicated instructor who graciously shares her work, her feedback and her ideas. Rice welcomes any opportunity to collaborate, because she knows our students will benefit most from fresh ideas, even when they are not her own.
Rice has helped to create the vibrant and rewarding culture of teaching and learning that so many students have valued in Granite State College, and her efforts will carry forward with GSC now a part of the UNH College of Professional Studies.
About this Award
The purpose of this award is to identify and honor longstanding members of the UNH faculty. This singular university-wide award will be given each year to the faculty member whose overall record of excellent teaching, caring about students, devotion to the university community, and substantial record of scholarly achievement exemplifies what we would call a "distinguished longstanding career" at UNH. Each year there will be no more than one Distinguished Professor Award. Long-term UNH tenure-track faculty members at the rank of professor are eligible.
