He is coordinator of the department's German Section and the section's advisor for the university's International Student Exchange Program and for summer study-abroad programs. His contributions to course development include the introduction of an oral practice course into the German program, the development of a course on German Culture and Civilization, and more recently, the creation of an 18-hour European Area Studies concentration for the Liberal Arts and Sciences major. By Sandy Broughton Teaching and research are often perceived as opposing endeavors in academia, yet each year Virginia Tech produces examples of faculty members who disprove the supposed dichotomy. This year, as recipient of the Wine Award for Teaching Excellence, Kusum Singh, assistant professor of educational research in the College of Education, joins the ranks of those faculty members noted for both teaching and research accomplishments. She loves her subject matter and she wants us to love it, but she also understands what it is like to have to work to grasp it.
Some professors forget what it is like to struggle with a subject.
She reads her audience to make sure that when we walk away from the class, we understand the material. She will conduct a study of the family, student, and school factors affecting mathematics and science achievement in secondary schools. Singh came to Virginia Tech in 1986 as associate director of the Governor's School for the Gifted Program. She became a research associate in the College of Education the following year, and joined the faculty in 1989. She is a graduate of the Agra University in India, where she earned degrees in psychology and English.