‘It’s like winning an Oscar’

Kacey Gaumer

The results are in. At the fall faculty meeting on Aug.17, UNCW’s top three teachers were announced.

Bob Blundo, Bill Bolduc and Lou Buttino were the recipients of the Distinguished Teaching Professorship Awards. Blundo also received the top honor, the Board of Trustees’ Teaching Excellence Award.

Several professors were nominated by colleagues, students or themselves. Professors were then notified of their nomination and were requested to submit a portfolio to be considered for the awards.

The provost’s office selected five recent recipients of these two awards to serve on the selection committee. According to Faculty Assistant to Provost Carol Ellis, the committee recommends four professors to the chancellor. Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo selected three of the four professors to receive the Distinguished Teaching Professorship Awards and one to be given the Board of Trustees’ Teaching Excellence Award.

“It’s like winning an Oscar,” said Blundo, a social work professor, on receiving the Board of Trustee’s Teaching Excellence Award, making him the top professor at UNCW. “Most of us are here to teach. If that’s our goal and our primary focus, then I want to do well.”

Arthur Frankel, the head of the social work department spoke highly of Blundo and his teaching style. He believes Blundo’s projects enrich the classroom beyond textbooks, and he brings an abundance of current experience to his classroom. “He brings his passion to community development and helping the poor, and this lends his students the same passion,” Frankel said.

Bolduc is in his 11th year at UNCW and has had a heavy impact on his students. “He has a real vision for the communication studies department,” said UNCW junior Anna Kooiman, who has taken several of Bolduc’s courses. “He is exploring all of his options and thinking outside of the box to better the communication studies studio in Leutze Hall. He also has an open-door policy and is always willing to talk to his students.”

Bolduc seemed pleased with his award. “Teaching is a great thing to do regardless. When you help someone grow, it is rewarding. To get an award on top of the natural reward of teaching is a wonderful feeling,” he said.

Buttino, a film studies professor, is not a newcomer to receiving teaching awards. At the spring faculty meeting, Buttino was awarded with the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence. He also received the J. Marshall Crews Distinguished Faculty Award given by the UNCW Alumni Association at the fall faculty meeting in August.

“Dr. Buttino is more than just a great teacher. More than almost any other professor, he is a mentor, adviser and supporter of students. Students leave his courses with much more than a thorough knowledge of documentary film,” said Dave Monahan, a fellow film studies professor.