Students name Gene Poor 2004 Master Teacher

Gene Poor, visual communication and technology education, was chosen by the Student Alumni Association to receive the 2004 Master Teacher Award. Considered the highest award given to faculty, it carries a $1,000 cash prize and a plaque in the recipient’s honor.

Poor, who came to the University in 1970 as a doctoral fellow and later founded the VCTE department, is widely known for his pioneering work in the field of animatronics but equally, on campus, for his dedication to his students.

Mary Kay Coulter, a senior from New Knoxville, Ohio, said of her experience in Poor’s class, “He has such a passion in the way he teaches that you’d never get bored. He made me want to learn what he was teaching. And he was always willing to help students with anything they needed, even if he wasn’t their adviser.”

Receiving the Master Teacher Award caps a series of other recognitions throughout his career for his work with students. In 1999, Poor was given the Outstanding Adviser Certificate of Merit by the National Academic Advising Association. At BGSU, he received the 1997-98 College of Technology Adviser of the Year Award and was named co-recipient of the 1998 University Outstanding Adviser Award. The Undergraduate Student Government presented him the Excellence in Teaching Award in 1985.

(See Monitor Monthly for full coverage of the award.)