UVA Darden School Professor Susan Chaplinsky Honored With All-University Teaching Award

Susan Chaplinsky, Tipton R. Snavely Professor of Business Administration at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, received a 2013 All-University Teaching Award. The honor, given by the Teaching Awards Committee of the UVA Teaching Resource Center, recognizes teaching excellence, research and service achievements among UVA faculty members.

In remarks during a Darden First Coffee to honor her award, Chaplinsky stayed true to her modest and collaborative nature. “Darden is a school of great teachers. I came here as a person interested in and dedicated to teaching and have learned a great deal about the craft of teaching as a member of the faculty. It’s an honor to be recognized as one of many great teachers and represent the best that Darden has to offer.”

A perennial favorite among students, Chaplinsky teaches the courses “Corporate Financing” and “Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity.” Last year, she received the Wachovia Award for Excellence in Teaching Materials – Innovative Case, and in 2007 Chaplinsky was voted Outstanding Professor.

Finance Professor Ken Eades, interim director and academic adviser of Darden’s Center for Asset Management, and Second Year student Jeff Campbell spoke of Chaplinsky as both a person and educator in their All-University Teaching Award nominations.

“Susan is a person who engages with people individually,” said Eades. “She does that when she talks with people one-on-one, but also manages to have a personal engagement with a classroom of 65 students. One always learns from Susan inside and outside the classroom. She is a natural teacher.”

“Susan is passionate about her work, dedicated to her teaching, and incredibly deserving of this award,” added Campbell. “She built the entrepreneurial finance course from scratch – writing an entire new curriculum of cases and teaching notes. I’m willing to bet she is also Darden’s biggest cheerleader for UVA sports. Every time you see her in the hall, she wants to talk UVA football or basketball. She loves this institution and she loves her craft — you couldn’t pick someone more deserving of this award.”

To be considered for the award, nominees must have full-time faculty appointments at any rank, and must be tenured, on a tenure-track or a non-tenure-track. Each year, there are nine award recipients who receive $2,000 prizes. At least one award recognizes undergraduate teaching excellence in each of the following areas:

• Arts and Humanities
• Social Sciences
• Sciences, Nursing and Engineering

The remaining awards recognize teaching excellence in undergraduate, graduate and/or professional teaching areas. Outstanding student mentors may also receive the All-University Teaching Award.

Other 2013 winners include: Gary Ballinger, William Stamps Farish Professor of Free Enterprise at the McIntire School of Commerce; Michael G. Collins, professor in the School of Law; Linda Columbus, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry; Avik Ghosh, associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Claudrena Harold, associate professor in the Department of History; Kelsey Johnson, associate professor in the Department of Astronomy; William A. Petri Jr., chief of the Division of Infectious Disease in the School of Medicine; and Joel Rini, professor of Spanish in the Department for Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.