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Jeffrey L. Dangl, associate professor of biology, has received the 1998 John
Lassiter Sanders Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and Service.
The $5,000 award recognizes excellence in teaching, advising and mentoring of
undergraduate students among tenured faculty. Dangl and other campuswide award
winners were honored at a banquet April 19.
Dangl, who joined the faculty in 1995, received his undergraduate, master's
and doctorate degrees from Stanford University. A member of Carolina's
Curriculum in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Dangl teaches "Molecular Biology
and Genetics," a core class in the undergraduate biology program.
Last year, Johnston scholars from Dangl's "Molecular Biology and Genetics"
class asked him to design a seminar on scientific research in the real world.
The seminar, called "Genetics, Research, Design and Interpretation," taught
students how to critique scientific papers, design meaningful research projects
and apply for research grants and fellowships. Students from the seminar
nominated Dangl for the award.
"I learned a lot about what it's like to really be a scientist," wrote one
student. "Dr. Dangl ... invested an extraordinary amount of time in these
projects himself."
Another student said, "Dangl has a sincere passion for undergraduate
education. I was lucky enough to register for the course and shared with him
and with the other students in the course an incredible learning experience."
Each spring, students, faculty, alumni and parents submit nominations for the
Sanders Award. A committee of faculty and students reviews nominations and
selects the recipient. The chancellor approves the selection.
The award, established in 1995, honors John Sanders, former director of the
Institute of Government and a longtime and highly respected faculty member at
Carolina. Sanders received his undergraduate and law degrees from the
University. After clerking for a federal judge and working in a Raleigh law
firm, he joined the Institute of Government as a professor of public law and
government in 1956. He retired in 1994.
Sanders helped reorganize state government and change the state constitution
in the late 1950s. As vice president of the 16-campus UNC system, Sanders wrote
the system's first long-range affirmative action plan and helped create the
community college system.
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