Above: WCU professor Sean O'Connell conducts research with student Jamie Tidmore Burns.

Sean O’Connell, associate professor of microbiology at Western Carolina University, has been named one of the best teachers in the University of North Carolina system for the creative ways he transforms students into not only scientists but also citizens aware of the world’s delicate environmental balance.

O’Connell, WCU’s H.F. “Cotton” and Katherine P. Robinson Professor of Biology, is among 16 recipients of the UNC Board of Governors Awards for Excellence in Teaching. Brent Barringer, a member of the Board of Governors, will present O’Connell with the award at WCU’s commencement ceremony Saturday, May 9.

A faculty member at WCU since 2001, O’Connell strives to help students overcome their fear of science by sharing the excitement of real-world research and heightening their awareness of the crucial environmental role played by organisms invisible to the naked eye, Chancellor John W. Bardo said in announcing the award.

Undergraduates in O’Connell’s principles of general microbiology course begin with harvesting an unknown microorganism from the soil or water during a visit to Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

“Most students actually discover a new species,” said Bardo. “Western Carolina is the only school studying the biodiversity of bacteria in the park, and each new species discovered is recorded in the ongoing All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory of the Smokies.”

The experience prepares O’Connell’s students for research ranging from working with NASA to winning a fellowship from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

In addition, O’Connell goes above and beyond to help students get excited about science, Bardo said. The syllabus of a summer course he taught on the natural history of Yellowstone National Park charted the trip the class would take along the trail of Lewis and Clark and advised in bold type: “Backcountry experience is required. … Large dangerous mammals and hazardous terrain will be encountered!”

“One of Sean O’Connell’s students has said of him, ‘Sean truly loves teaching. Anyone who has taken a class with him will testify to that,’” said Bardo.

O’Connell earned his associate’s degree from Sullivan County Community College, bachelor’s degree from Johnson State College and a doctorate from Idaho State University. He is a native of Enfield, Conn., and resides in Cullowhee.

He and the 15 other award recipients, representing an array of academic disciplines, were nominated by special committees on their home campuses and selected by the Board of Governors Committee on Personnel and Tenure.

Established by the Board of Governors in April 1994 to underscore the importance of teaching and to reward good teaching across the university, the awards are given annually to a tenured faculty member from each UNC campus. Winners must have taught at their present institutions at least seven years. No one may receive the award more than once.

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Last Modified: Thursday, May 7, 2009