The three recipients of the Diggs Awards are Elizabeth Bounds, Arthur L. Buikema Jr., and Terry Wildman. The Diggs Awards, initiated in 1992, recognize outstanding contributions to the teaching program of the university by faculty members at all levels of professional development. These are teachers who have not only excelled in the classroom, but also made significant and lasting contributions to the teaching philosophy or the curriculum of their department, program, or college. Bounds is an assistant professor in the Religious Studies Program. Since joining the Virginia Tech faculty in 1991, Bounds has made numerous contributions to Religious Studies, Women's Studies, Humanities, the University Honors Programs, and the new Service Learning Program.
Bounds is credited with always seeking new ways to facilitate and enrich the learning process.
She values offering education for citizenship, or how to counter individualism, relativism, and absolutism. It is her conviction that one of the primary purposes of a four-year university education is to expose students to different perspectives, while encouraging them to understand and develop their own. Buikema is a professor of biology. Buikema has spent several years developing new approaches to teaching introductory life-science courses at Virginia Tech and other institutions. He strives to increase scientific literacy to enable informed citizens to actively participate in developing and implementing public policies.