Brian Murphy Receives Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award
Fisheries and wildlife sciences professor Brian Murphy received 2009’s Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Award. The award, presented annually by Virginia Tech’s Center for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, recognizes faculty members who have dedicated themselves to rigorous examination and investigation of higher education teaching and learning.
Murphy focuses his teaching on the development of students’ writing and critical thinking skills by using case studies as his foremost instructional strategy. “Case-study learning is an effective way for students to learn to analyze critical issues and conflicts in the field,” he emphasized. Murphy has authored specific case studies that are used worldwide by nearly 40 universities, created a graduate-level course at Virginia Tech that examines best practices for teaching in the natural resources sciences, and partnered with colleagues at Virginia Tech and South Dakota State to publish a critical text about case study instruction.