Student Senate recognizes outstanding faculty

Ted Mikuls, M.D.	Alan T. Richards, M.D.

Ted Mikuls, M.D., and Alan T. Richards, M.D., are the recipients of the 2016 Student Senate Teaching Awards.

In a ceremony held earlier this month, Dr. Mikuls, the Umbach Professor of Rheumatology, received the Distinguished Mentor Award, while Dr. Richards, adjunct associate professor/clinician, otolaryngology-head and neck surgery, received the Distinguished Teaching Award.

This is the third year for the Distinguished Mentor Ward, and the Student Senate added the Distinguished Teaching Award this year, said Daniel Cloonan, second-year medical student and incoming Student Senate president.

“We’ve had a lot of success with the recognition that the mentor award created, but we felt we were missing part of our academic population,” Cloonan said. “A lot of the nominations we were getting were from grad students who had worked on projects with mentors; but we were not hearing about those faculty members who were engaged in the classroom or giving lectures.

“We have excellent teachers as well as mentors here at UNMC, and we wanted to recognize that.”

Dr. Mikuls’ nominator spoke of the opportunities the mentor creates for his graduate students and the people in his lab.

Dr. Richards’ nominators spoke to his constant dedication to teaching and the “serendipity of discovery,” as well as his inspiring manner, especially in the anatomy lab, which Dr. Richards called “a place where you literally get ‘hands-on’ learning.”

Dr. Mikuls said he was pleased to win the award, especially since it came directly from the students.

“I really enjoy mentoring, and to be recognized for that means a lot to me,” he said. “I have great trainees, and I appreciate that they took the effort to nominate me for this honor.”

Dr. Richards also said he was honored to have received recognition by the Student Senate.

“I love teaching the students because, in addition to being very smart, they are enthusiastic and this rubs off on the teacher,” he said.