Anthony Colaianne receives Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching
Anthony Colaianne, of Newport, Va., associate professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, received the university’s 2004 Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Established in 1982 by the Virginia Tech Alumni Association, the Alumni Award for Excellence in Teaching is presented to two outstanding teachers selected by the Academy of Teaching Excellence. The recipients are chosen from a university-wide pool of faculty members who have received certificates of teaching excellence from their respective colleges during the preceding three years.
Colaianne is known for his work in three areas: teaching, student advising, and enhancing the education environment for students. In English, humanities, and University Honors, he has taught courses ranging from first-year writing to graduate courses. He is known as "an exemplar of humanistic teaching," and, in 1984, he received the State of the Art Award presented by English master’s students. Besides receiving the certificate of teaching excellence in 1979, he was a finalist six other years. Students give him the highest of teaching scores, and his teaching has long-term impact on his students.
Thoughtfulness, consideration, open-mindedness, consistency, and fairness are Colaianne’s teaching goals. He sees each student as a "colleague and intellectual fellow traveler" and believes he is as likely to learn from them as they are from him. Perhaps one of the best student evaluations was that, "although the material was really old and boring, he made it extremely interesting." Known for his tireless efforts to discuss students’ futures with them, Colaianne also encourages students to think for themselves in class and gives them the freedom to express themselves about the literature studied. As a result, students don’t want to leave the classroom. He has helped many students turn failure into success, shown students how to find motivation within themselves, and inspired his students into "the intellectual spirit," one student said.
Colaianne's scholarly interests, which enhance his teaching, are focused in Medieval and Renaissance English literature, with particular attention to Chaucer and prose writers of the 16th and earlier 17th century. His current project, entitled "Authority and Humility: A Study of Humanist Practice," examines the ways in which humanist scholars use research materials in creating commentaries on language and literature.
A native of Latrobe, Pa., Colaianne has served as director of Undergraduate English Studies and interim director and associate director of the Center for Programs in the Humanities. He is a member of The Medieval Academy of America, The New Chaucer Society, and the Renaissance Society of America. He earned a bachelor’s from Saint Vincent College, a master’s from Duquesne University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati.
The College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences embraces the arts, humanities, social and human sciences, and education. The college nurtures intellect and spirit, enlightens decision-making, inspires positive change, and improves the quality of life for people of all ages. It is home to the departments of apparel, housing and resource management, communication, educational leadership and policy studies, English, foreign languages and literatures, history, human development, interdisciplinary studies, music, philosophy, political science, ROTC, science and technology in society, sociology, teaching and learning, and theatre arts.
Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 170 academic degree programs.
