Northern Michigan University Biology Assistant Professor Diana Lafferty received the 2021-22 Excellence in Teaching Award at a March 17 Celebration of Excellence on campus. The award recognizes faculty who have outstanding peer and student evaluations, are dedicated and enthusiastic, create safe and open learning environments, and experiment with innovative teaching and learning paradigms.
As a broadly trained interdisciplinary conservation ecologist, Lafferty synergizes her research, mentoring, teaching and outreach activities to maximize participation by diverse people in authentic science to advance understanding of how wildlife populations–and their associated communities and ecosystems–respond to global change. She strives to make science more accessible to students from broader backgrounds.
“I approach teaching as a partnership with my students by establishing a reciprocal learning environment in which we all have so much to teach and to learn from each other,” Lafferty said. “I strive to create an empathetic environment in which students from diverse backgrounds feel supported and are comfortable to share their growing knowledge and understanding of the natural world, as well as their ideas and perspectives, with their classmates. By really listening to the diverse ideas each individual brings to class, we all gain greater insight into the relationships between people and the natural world.”
The celebration program described Lafferty as leading students in hypothesis-driven research at the nexus of basic and applied ecology using a variety of taxonomic models that span myriad landscapes—both in her classrooms and lab.
By integrating authentic research into her curriculum, she is training NMU students to conduct ecological and conservation-focused research, fostering cross-institutional student collaborations, and providing unique opportunities for all her students to engage in professional development activities.
“One of the most rewarding aspects of teaching is that I get to be the students' No. 1 cheerleader,” she said. “I really love playing a small part in helping students identify their academic and professional goals and creating a scaffolded framework to ensure they can achieve their goals in a timely manner.
"In this capacity, I push students to think creatively and critically while simultaneously encouraging them to engage in empathy and compassion, all intellectual tools critical for making a positive impact on our shared world. It's so exciting when students make their short and long-term dreams come true through hard work and dedication.”
Since joining the faculty at NMU in the fall of 2017, Lafferty's efforts have enabled more than 450 undergraduate students in her Principles of Ecology and Conservation Biology courses to present their class research projects at local and national symposia.