November 07, 2019

Nelson Baker, president of the UPCEA board of directors, presents the Emerging Professional Continuing Educator Award to Associate Professor Heather Hunt.

Heather Hunt, an associate professor in Biomedical, Biological & Chemical Engineering Department in the the College of Engineering, took home the Adelle F. Robertson Emerging Professional Continuing Educator Award from the University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA). Dr. Hunt was on site to accept the award.

Dr. Hunt has become an advocate for online teaching not just within her department, but across the university and the University of Missouri System, in part because her own online courses embody the standards of excellence and quality that her faculty and students expect to experience in engineering course work.

Although initially reluctant to teach online courses, Dr. Hunt has fully embraced the format — and her enthusiasm shows in her course design. She worked with instructional designers to create engaging and innovative bioengineering courses that have impressed both students and her department. Dr. Hunt recently led the development of the master of science in biological engineering program, for which she now serves as the program coordinator. As a result, Hunt has been named an eLearning Strategic Initiatives Fellow at the UM System level.