Alumni Association recognizes faculty for excellence in teaching

Three members of the ECU faculty were recognized by the Alumni Association at University Awards Day on Wednesday, April 25.

Alumni Association Awards for Outstanding Teaching:

Patricia “Patch” A. Clark
Associate Professor, School of Theatre and Dance, College of Fine Arts and Communication

“Patch” Clark is the coordinator of the Theatre Education program in the School of Theatre and Dance at East Carolina University. She has appeared in numerous ECU/Loessin Playhouse and ECU/Loessin Summer Theatre productions including Grease, My Fair Lady, Inherit the Wind, A Doll’s House, Misalliance, Our Town, The Sound of Music, Oklahoma, A View from the Bridge, Crazy for You, Yerma, Grapes of Wrath, The Time of Your Life, and Footloose. She directed the Off-Broadway premiere production of Katmandu at the John Houseman Studio Theatre in July of 2001 and serves as the director for ECU’s Storybook Theatre for children. She is the author of Intergenerational Arts in the Nursing Home (Greenwood Press, 1991) and co-author of Seniors on Stage (Praeger Press, 1985.) Clark receive an M.F.A. in Theatre Arts – Performance and B.F.A. in Theatre Education from Virginia Commonwealth University, and an A.A. in Theatre Arts from Webster College. She has been at ECU since 1997.

Dr. Subodh K. Dutta
Teaching Instructor, Department of Chemistry, Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences

Prior to joining East Carolina in 2006, Dr. Dutta was a postdoctoral research scientist from 2002-2006 and a postdoctoral research fellow from 2000-2002 at Western Michigan University. He spent the previous year as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Notre Dame and was a postdoctoral fellow at Colorado State University from 1998-1999. Dr. Dutta received his Ph.D. from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science in Calcutta, India, in 1996. Dr. Dutta’s teaching philosophy in his own words: “Each student arrives in the classroom expecting to learn the subject at hand, yet each contributes to a diverse array of backgrounds, skill levels, and learning needs. In order to meet each student’s expectations, I reach out to my students with enthusiastic real-world examples and stories. I create an environment where students not only enjoy the subject and earn [a] good grade, but also understand the importance of chemistry in improving the quality of their lives.”

Robert L. Jones ’58 Teaching Award:

Dr. Alan C. Taylor
Assistant Professor, Department of Child Development and Family Relations, College of Human Ecology

Dr. Taylor received has Ph.D. in family and child development and graduate certificate in gerontology from Virginia Tech University. He has been teaching at ECU since 2008. Dr. Taylor is a certified family life educator through the National Council on Family Relations. His primary teaching responsibilities are with the Family and Community Services program, and he also teaches in the CDFR master’s program. His research interests include grandparent-grandchild relationships, grandfather involvement, family life education, and family aging issues/intergenerational relationship issues. Dr. Taylor connects with his students through storytelling, scenarios, case studies, and personal experiences, and extends the classroom environment by sending students into the community to volunteer and complete service-learning activities.