Six faculty members at the University of Nebraska Medical Center were honored last week with awards for their exceptional teaching, mentoring and community service.The faculty received their awards at the Annual Faculty Meeting on Tuesday, April 25, at the Durham Research Center at the main UNMC campus in Omaha.
The awardees included:
- Outstanding Teacher Awards – Mary Lynn Froeschle, D.D.S., College of Dentistry; Peter Iwen, Ph.D, College of Medicine; Louise LaFramboise, Ph.D., College of Nursing; and Gordon Todd, Ph.D., College of Medicine.
- Outstanding Mentor of Graduate Students Award – Luis Marky, Ph.D., College of Pharmacy.
- Community Service Award – Linda Jensen, Ph.D., College of Nursing Kearney Division.
Dr. Froeschle, who works at the UNMC College of Dentistry in Lincoln, is an associate professor in the Department of Adult Restorative Dentistry. She teaches a didactic course in diagnosis and treatment to incoming students. When the students move on to the Assessment and Treatment Planning Clinic, Dr. Froeschle and three additional faculty advocates are responsible for assigning new patients. Through her role as director of patient care, she works with both patients and dental students to help patients complete their care and students to meet their educational requirements necessary for graduation.
Dr. Iwen is an associate professor in UNMC’s Department of Pathology and Microbiology and a graduate faculty fellow who has taught UNMC students for more than 27 years. He teaches several levels of students, including medical, pharmacy, physician assistant, and medical technology students; pathology residents; and residents and fellows in the section of infectious diseases in internal medicine.
As an assistant professor in the Adult Health and Illness Department, Dr. LaFramboise teaches senior nursing courses, provides clinical supervision of students in the intensive care unit and performs research on family caregivers of heart failure patients. She also serves as co-director of the recently developed Accelerated Nursing Program, as well as a faculty adviser.
Dr. Todd is a professor in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Anatomy. He teaches gross anatomy to medical students as well as physician assistant and physical therapy students. During his career, he has taught the course to more than 4,500 students. Each year, he spends about 650 hours teaching students. He also spearheaded an effort to upgrade the gross anatomy and virtual microscopy labs, installing 30 projection screens in the lab and linking them to computers. The screens are 50 inches wide and are located adjacent to the various worktables in the gross anatomy lab.
Dr. Marky’s firm-yet-caring approach to teaching his students has earned him a reputation as one of the best faculty mentors on campus. Typically, Dr. Marky has two post-docs and three graduate students in his lab. There, the students run experiments and assist Dr. Marky with his research work. He insists that they produce their own research papers and to have them published in scientific journals.
An assistant professor in the College of Nursing, Dr. Jensen is a ferocious advocate for those suffering from mental illness. She has worked tirelessly to educate Nebraskans about the pervasive stigma and lack of rehabilitative resources in the state, and she has been a leader in such groups as the state chapter of the National Association of the Mentally Ill and of the Nebraska Legislature’s Behavioral Health Oversight Commission.
UNMC is the only public health science center in the state. Its educational programs are responsible for training more health professionals practicing in Nebraska than any other institution. Through its commitment to education, research, patient care and outreach, UNMC has established itself as one of the country’s leading centers in cancer, transplantation biology, bioterrorism preparedness, neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular diseases, genetics, biomedical technology, ophthalmology and arthritis. UNMC’s research funding from external sources is now more than $72 million annually and has resulted in the creation of nearly 2,400 highly skilled jobs in the state.