UW System honors two UW-Madison teachers

The teaching of both science and art at UW–Madison has earned the applause of the UW System, via two 1999 Alliant Energy/Wisconsin Power and Light Underkofler Awards for Teaching Excellence.

Ann Burgess, director of the Biology Core Curriculum and Fred Fenster, a professor of art, received awards that recognize faculty and staff instructors at UW System institutions within the Alliant service area. The winners will be honored today (Friday, Oct. 15) at a ceremony at 2 p.m. on the 19th floor of Van Hise Hall.

Ann Burgess calls her teaching a work in progress. When she first began working with UW–Madison undergraduates in 1973, she says she then believed classroom presentation was the key to effective teaching. “Now, I know that we have to focus our attention on what happens in the students’ minds, rather than on what happens in the front of the classroom,” she says.

That requires the creation of an entire learning environment, with a heavy emphasis on small-group discussion and writing assignments, Burgess says. She likes to involve students in the process of science and the complexities of real problems. For example, her students learn about ecology by helping to plan and carry out research on prairie restoration on the west end of campus.

The ultimate goal is for students to shape their own academic destinies. “Students have to interact with ideas to integrate them into their own intellectual frameworks,” she says. “Teachers can serve as coaches and guides, but students have to do the work themselves.”

In addition to her work with the Biology Core Curriculum, Burgess also serves as an undergraduate advisor in the biological sciences and is active in the Honors Program. She also is involved with the National Institute for Science Education to enhance the teaching of college science, math and engineering courses nationwide.

A master artist and artisan, Fenster’s reputation for the creation of focused intelligent and exquisite jewelry and metalwork spans the globe. Art department chair Laurie Beth Clark observes that Fenster inspires his students to “think” as well as “do,” analyzing successes and failures for their learning potential.

Organization is a vital component to his teaching effectiveness, Fenster says. “My studio is well-equipped and well-lit, with tools arranged logically and in order, labeled and accessible.” His university studio even houses a library, with technical books, trade publications, magazines, a slide projector, video monitor, computer for three-dimensional imaging and more.

Fenster encourages undergraduate and graduate students to learn from each other as well as from him. He follows this practice himself by taking part in lectures, workshops and symposia around the world, most recently in Japan, where he met with artists in both rural crafts villages urban studios.

“I have very strong feelings about keeping active and involved,” he says. “It helps sharpen my expertise, makes it easier to provide consistency and support in my teaching, and increases the standard of quality.”

In nearly 40 years in UW–Madison’s art department, Fenster has guided hundreds of students through the intricacies of metalworking. Many former students have gone on to distinguished academic and nonacademic careers, and Fenster says that in itself has made his own career worthwhile.

“My students are a living record of my teaching,” he says.