Julia C. Paulk, Lieber memorial teaching associate award

Julia C. Paulk Doctoral Student in Spanish and Portuguese and in Comparative Literature IU Bloomington

Interim President Gerald Bepko, Paulk and IU Bloomington Chancellor Sharon Brehm at the Founders Day ceremony

In recommending Paulk for the Lieber Memorial Award, representatives of the IUB Department Spanish and Portuguese cited her outstanding abilities and breadth of experience as a teacher. In addition to the many courses she has taught in that department, Paulk has taught literature in the Department of Comparative Literature and composition in the Department of English. She has regularly been entrusted with additional responsibilities such as teaching above the 200 level, including an intermediate-level literature class that is almost exclusively taught by faculty.

In 2001, Paulk designed and taught an innovative service learning course on domestic violence for the Collins Living–Learning Center. In addition to reading literary works from different cultures and time periods, the students volunteered at a local shelter for victims of domestic abuse.

True to her viewpoint that learning takes place outside of the classroom as well as in it, Paulk not only has regularly attended seminars sponsored by Instructional Support Services, but also has been a presenter at the Foreign Language Share Fair, a multidisciplinary workshop on language education. On the basis of such professional commitment as well as her achievements in the classroom, Paulk was the unanimous choice for the 2001–2002 award for outstanding associate instructor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese.

‘Entering into a conversation’ rather than dictating information is the philosophy paramount to this new teacher’s philosophy of effective teaching.