For Dr. Vicente Domingo Villa, Southwestern University professor of biology and holder of the Lillian Nelson Pratt Chair in Science, transcendence came with an award that garnered less fanfare from the media but meaningful recognition from peers in his field. In 1996, Villa was given the Carski Foundation Distinguished Teaching Award by the American Society for Microbiology . The award honored his outstanding teaching record that has spanned a quarter century.
Villa is no stranger to teaching awards.
At New Mexico State, where he taught from 1972 to 1985, he received the first annual Donald C. Roush Award, which recognizes the university's best science professor. Later, he won the New Mexico Academy of Science Award for best science college teacher in the state. At Southwestern, he received the 1988 Piper Professor Award given to outstanding professors who emphasize undergraduate preparation in Texas. Villa was chosen over 409 other nominees from public and independent universities across the country, including Ivy League and research universities, small liberal arts colleges and large state universities. Villa traveled to Washington, D.C., to accept the award, to deliver a lecture at the Smithsonian Institute and to receive an in-person commendation from President Bill Clinton .