History of the Award: In 2016, the first WIMU DVM class was scheduled to graduate. The Class of 2016 was the first graduating class to include students who had started the new regional program in Logan, Utah (USU). As the time approached for the graduates to select their Zoetis Distinguished Teaching Award (the college’s highest teaching honor), Dean Bryan Slinker recognized that the likelihood of an instructor from Years 1 or 2 winning the Zoetis Award was now very small. The graduating class, like all future WIMU classes, now consisted of 4th year students who had different experiences in Years 1 and/or 2. Specifically, students who start the program in Pullman, Logan, or Bozeman now interact with a different set of instructors prior to Years 3 and 4. To address this issue, Dean Slinker initiated the WIMU Award for Excellence in Pre-clinical Teaching, also to be selected by the graduating class.
HOW IT WORKS: On their second online ballot for the Zoetis Teaching Award, graduating seniors are also asked to nominate or vote for an instructor from Year 1 or 2. The language is otherwise identical to the language for the Zoetis Award, but focuses specifically on Years 1 and 2.
Identify “the teacher who you feel, through his or her ability, dedication, character and leadership, has contributed significantly to the veterinary profession, as well as to the education of you and your classmates in Years 1 and 2 of the WIMU DVM curriculum.”
The graduates are asked to reflect back: “Who (from Year 1 or 2) made the biggest and most important impact on you and the Class of 20XX?”
Separate winners are selected by the students who started in either Pullman or Logan. A Bozeman WIMU Excellence in Teaching Award winner is/was selected each spring by the 2nd year students who started their program in Bozeman.
ELIGIBILITY: Like the Zoetis Award, only faculty who are assistant professors, associate professors, or professors are eligible. Winners may be in either tenure track or clinical/educator track positions. Also like the Zoetis Award, faculty who win this award are not eligible to win again the next 3 years (i.e. they become eligible again 4 years later).
Patricia Talcott, Professor – Pullman class, Year 2, Toxicology (eligible again in 2021)
Rusty Stott, Assistant Professor – Logan Class, Year 2, Parasitology (eligible again in 2021)
Alan Goldhahn, Teaching Professor - Bozeman Class, Year 1, multiple courses (eligible again in 2021)
A 2017 Pullman award was not given as only 24% of the Pullman graduating class voted (50% is required)
Johanna Rigas, Assistant Professor (clinical pathology) – Logan, Year 2 (eligible again in 2021)
Steve Hines, Professor – Pullman, Year 2 (eligible again beginning in 2020)
Tom Baldwin, Professor – Logan, Year 1 (eligible again beginning in 2020)