Teachers Excellence winners when their division chairs presented them with a bouquet of flowers at their monthly division meetings signifying that they had won. Voted by former students and colleagues as outstanding teachers, English Prof. Neville Britto and Mathematics Prof. Schmidt never thought that they would be the winners. The award, named after former charter member of the board of trustees, Leonard Bergstien, was started in 1965 by his family . Former students are sent ballots asking which teachers stood out in their mind.
Faculty combine their votes with the students' to come up with the winners.
Last year's math division winner, Katrina Nichols, ended a 32 year drought when no one from the math division had won. According to Miller, Schmidt is one of the few professors who teaches the math for elementary teachers course, and she said that she's very good at it. We thought it was going to be another 32 years. And on the other side of the coin, professors from the English division have had their share of award winners over the years. And according to English Division Chair Leslie Prast, Britto is a favorite among the students.