English Department Student, Heather Steffen, Wins Dietrich College Graduate Student Teaching Award

Each year the college selects one of its graduate students for the Dietrich College Graduate Student Teaching Award to recognize excellence, dedication, and innovation in teaching.  We are pleased to announce that English Department PhD. candidate Heather Steffen, and Modern Languages Ph.D. candidate Yun (Helen) Zhao have been selected as 2012 co-winners of the Dietrich College Graduate Student Teaching Award.      

A 2003 baccalaureate graduate of Bowling Green State University (B.A. [magna cum laude], in English) and 2004 masters-degree graduate of Carnegie Mellon (M.A., English), Heather Steffen is a candidate for the PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies here at Carnegie Mellon.   A central part of the PhD experience in this program is the opportunity and challenge to develop as a course designer and classroom instructor, and Heather has filled these roles superbly, in the main in the university's required undergraduate writing course 76-101, Interpretation and Argument.  As her nominators state, "Heather has developed into an extraordinary teacher who is willing to devote a great deal of time, energy and resources to improving her pedagogy . . . Clearly, her knowledge, preparedness enthusiasm and empathy make her a fine example of the sort of teacher who should be recognized for her contribution not just to our department, but also to the Carnegie Mellon community as a whole."