The University of Delaware recognized four faculty members for outstanding work in teaching and two for their excellence in advising and mentoring. Additionally, two graduate students were also honored for excellence in teaching. The awards were presented at the Sept. 14 Faculty Senate meeting. 

The teaching and advising awards are primarily based on nominations from past and current students. Selections are made by the Senate’s Committee on Student and Faculty Honors. 

This year’s Excellence in Teaching Award was presented to:

• Jane Case, assistant professor in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration and the assistant director of the SNF Ithaca Initiative 

• Ioanna Fampiou, assistant professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering 

• Bradley Pitcher, assistant professor in the Department of Earth Sciences

• Tyler van Buren, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering

Excellence in Teaching award recipients each receive $5,000, have their portraits hung in Morris Library for five years and have bricks inscribed with their names installed in Mentors’ Circle between Hullihen Hall and Morris Library. 

Recipients of this year’s Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring Award were: 

• Amanda Seiwell, math educator coordinator in the College of Arts and Sciences

• Erin Brannick, Department of Animal and Food Sciences professor, veterinary anatomic pathologist and the director of undergraduate programs

• Lochlan Belford, instructor of game design and development in the Department of  Engineering

They each will receive $5,000 and also will have bricks inscribed with their names added to Mentors’ Circle. 

Two graduate students received the Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching Award, and each received $1,500. 

This year’s awardees were: 

• Vikrant Kamble, an economics doctoral candidate

• Pravesh Raghoo, a teaching assistant at the Joseph R. Biden School of Public Policy and Administration at the time of his nomination. Raghoo graduated in fall 2025 with his doctorate degree in energy and environmental policy. 

All awardees were invited to share their thoughts about teaching and advising with UDaily. Excerpts from their responses are printed below.

Excellence in Teaching 

Jane Case: As a Delawarean, a first-generation student and a proud Blue Hen, I am connected to my students in many ways — I was working toward my PhD as a full-time employee — so I know how demanding the balance of work, home and school can be. 

I enjoy partnering with students in their learning journeys. But what students may not realize is how much our partnership has helped me grow. It’s exciting to witness the shift from content delivery to fostering a collaborative, supportive learning community where students feel empowered to ask questions and take intellectual risks! 

While honoring what is authentic to my personality, I’ve also been able to emulate the examples of good teaching I’ve witnessed over my years as an educator and a life-long learner. Early in my career, I was fortunate to work with Dr. Audrey Helfman, a passionate educator with a truly dynamic classroom presence, and her example has always stayed with me. 

I have many students, teaching assistants and colleagues to thank and am deeply honored to be named as one of UD’s 2026 Excellence in Teaching Award recipients.

Ioanna Fampiou: I am deeply honored and humbled to receive the Excellence in Teaching Award — especially knowing that the nomination came from my students. I view teaching as a form of service, an opportunity to help students grow, succeed and develop knowledge that extends beyond the classroom; teaching has lasting relevance in students’ lives. I truly love teaching and find it to be a dynamic and continually evolving endeavor. What I enjoy most is that no two semesters are ever the same. Each new group of students brings fresh perspectives and challenges that inspire me to rethink and refine my teaching. As society, technology and the needs of our students evolve, I strive to create learning experiences that are engaging, inclusive and meaningful.

This recognition reflects not only my efforts, but also the support of many others. I am grateful to my colleagues in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering for fostering a collaborative and supportive community, and to the teachers, professors and mentors throughout my life whose examples have shaped me as an educator. Most of all, I thank my students, whose curiosity, hard work and achievements continue to inspire me every day.

Bradley Pitcher: I am honored to receive this teaching award. I put a lot of time into developing course material and trying to teach geoscience in an interesting and engaging manner, so it means a lot that students appreciate my teaching enough to nominate me. My favorite part of teaching is when my intro students, many of whom are non-science majors, have a clear "ah-ha" moment, a "mind-blown" facial expression or they raise their hand to ask a question that demonstrates their fascination. 

I have only been at UD for three terms, and I already feel so at home; I love my students, both geoscience majors and non-majors, and I love this University. 

Thank you to my department for supporting me, and thank you to my students for coming to class eager to learn about the incredible processes that shape the Earth. I hope they all look at the world a bit differently for the rest of their lives.

Tyler van Buren: This award means so much to me! I regularly give campus tours to prospective students or visiting faculty, and on nice weather days I make a point to take them through Mentor's Circle. I tell them about how the names represent the absolute best individuals in teaching, scholarship, and service at UD — a testament to how devoted UD is in all aspects of education. To be represented there means more to me than I can fully express. 

It feels especially meaningful because, at times in higher education, teaching efforts can be overshadowed by research productivity. But our students and graduates are among the most important outcomes of our work, alongside journal articles, grants, and other scholarly contributions. I am thankful to work at an institution that continues to prioritize and value teaching, and I’m grateful for the students and colleagues who support and recognize my efforts.

When I was a student, it was clear how much we recognized when an instructor was genuinely invested in our learning. I was fortunate to have a few mentors along the way who made teaching and advising feel intentional, not secondary. Those experiences shaped the way I approach my own students. I try to bring that same level of care, dedication and accessibility to my teaching and advising, while also showing students how research and discovery can enhance their education.

In my first semester of teaching at UD, the COVID pandemic began. We all immediately pivoted to remote and asynchronous instruction. Designing courses during that transition pushed me to think intentionally about multiple learning formats from the beginning, rather than simply adapting existing material. Even after returning to in-person instruction, providing flexible options for students with different learning preferences has remained a foundation of my courses. I look forward to how new challenges, like the rapid rise of AI, can lead to innovations in the classroom.

Excellence in Undergraduate Advising and Mentoring

Amanda Seiwell: I am honored to be one of this year’s recipients of the Excellence in Undergraduate Academic Advising Awards, and I am especially grateful to the students who nominated me. One of the greatest joys of my career is working with students in the Secondary Mathematics Education program and witnessing them grow into the educators they hope to become. It is a privilege to celebrate their successes and support them through their challenges during their time at UD. I have been fortunate to learn from remarkable mentors and colleagues, particularly Michelle Cirillo, whose generous mentorship has significantly impacted my career. I look forward to continuing to support and learn from the students who make this work so meaningful.

Erin Brannick: I am deeply honored to receive the Excellence in Advising award. Throughout my education, I was incredibly fortunate to have a host of mentors shaping me into the person, the educator, the professional and the mentor/advisor that I am today. 

Along with a multitude of faculty colleagues and staff here at UD, I would like to specifically thank Ms. Gayle Gray (middle school); Mrs. Laura Gardner (high school); Dr. Margaret Goodman, Dr. Elizabeth Powelson and Dr. Tim Lewis (Wittenberg University); Dr. Nong Inpanbutr, Dr. Donna Kusewitt and Dr. Charles Capen (Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine); and Dr. Steven Weisbrode and Dr. Paul Stromberg (OSUCVM Veterinary Anatomic Pathology Residency and graduate training) for taking their precious time to demonstrate effective mentorship for me both in principle and practice. 

Ultimately, I try to bring the best of each of these amazing individuals to my own students, imparting some of the time, energy, wisdom, empathy and grace that my mentors showed me over and over again. 

Finally, I would be remiss to leave out my original mentors, my parents Dave and Bev Shockey, who have faithfully guided me and cheered me on each step of the way. In fact, when I called them in Kentucky, where they live, to share that I won this award, my parents first offered to take me out to celebrate my achievement when we were next together — perhaps for ice cream so I can relive middle school awards celebrations — and then they asked me what I planned to do next in my career. I am definitive proof that you are never too young or too old to be mentored, even while serving as a mentor for others!   

Lochlan Belford: Advising has been one of the most rewarding parts of my first three years teaching. In particular, my favorite parts of advising the Game Studies students are all the wonderful and varied conversations I have had with them about their particular passions in games as a medium and game development as a discipline. Game development is incredibly broad and interdisciplinary, so even as I advise them on programming and game design, I have been privileged to learn a lot from them as well on topics such as art, writing, music, and academic games research. Many students have never gotten a chance to discuss video games and their development as serious topics of study before coming to Delaware and meeting our Game Studies faculty, so they come into the program extremely eager to learn. It feels really meaningful to be able to talk to a new student and help them take something that feels like a dream — making or studying games professionally — and start advising them on how to turn it into reality. I look forward to many more years of doing that here at Delaware!

Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching  

Pravesh Raghoo: Receiving the 2026 Excellence in Teaching Award is a tremendous honor and one of the most meaningful recognitions of my time at the University of Delaware. As both a recent PhD graduate and instructor, I have always viewed teaching as an opportunity to help students build confidence, think critically and connect classroom concepts to real-world challenges.

My teaching philosophy has been shaped by my own educational journey, from Mauritius to the United States, and by the many mentors who invested in my growth along the way. Having experienced different educational systems and learning environments, I strive to create a classroom that is inclusive, engaging and supportive. I want students to feel comfortable asking questions, sharing perspectives and connecting what they learn to real-world challenges. Whether discussing energy systems, environmental policy or sustainability, I aim to help students see how classroom concepts influence decisions that affect communities, economies and the environment.

This award is especially meaningful because it reflects the impact of the relationships built with students. Their curiosity, enthusiasm and willingness to engage have made teaching one of the most rewarding aspects of my academic and professional career. I am also grateful to my mentors at the University of Delaware, especially Dr. Kalim Shah, whose dedication to education has been a lasting source of inspiration throughout my graduate studies and teaching career.

Vikrant Kamble: I am incredibly honored to receive this award. As a first-generation student, I have always had a strong passion for learning, and teaching has been my way of expanding and sharing what I have learned. For me, a teacher is a lifelong learner. The more I learn and grow, the more I realize how much I still have to discover, and somehow that only deepens my enthusiasm.

My teaching style has been shaped by everyone around me, my students, my colleagues, and my professors. I believe there is always something good we can learn from every single person we meet. Every question and every discussion inspired me to grow and think more clearly. That moment when a student understands is what makes teaching so joyful and rewarding.

I am deeply grateful to the Department of Economics at the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics, and the University of Delaware for giving me the opportunity to teach, and to the University community for this recognition. I also want to thank every student I have had the privilege of teaching at UD, whose curiosity and trust continue to make me a better teacher every day. Finally, I am grateful for my own journey, one that took hard work and sacrifice, and I am thankful for every step of it.