ORLANDO, April 30, 2010 — Dr. William Safranek, assistant professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology, is the winner of a UCF Teaching Incentive Program (TIP) Award.
In her nomination letter, Dr. Roseann White, associate director of the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, described Dr. Safranek’s enthusiasm for teaching and for his students as “a model for all of us to follow.”
She noted that Dr. Safranek carried what was likely the highest teaching load of any instructor “in the history of the Molecular Biology and Microbiology Department,” including seven full courses and the laboratory component of Clinical Pathogenic Microbiology.
She also praised him for providing internship experiences and interview coaching to pre-professional students through the Pre-Health Professions Advisement Office and mentoring numerous science fair students in Orange, Seminole and Brevard counties. “Dr. Safranek is certainly the kind of instructor the Teaching Incentive Program was meant to recognize,” Dr. White wrote.
Dr. Safranek said he was honored by the recognition. “Given that all of our faculty members are such excellent instructors and the number of faculty members who were considered for this award, I am really surprised that I was the one picked,” he said. He also credited his colleagues and students with teaching him. “I don’t think a day goes by where I don’t learn something from them,” he said.