One of the Stony Brook University faculty, Nancy Hollingsworth, is appointed to the rank of the Distinguished Teaching Professorship, which recognizes and honors mastery of teaching. For this prestigious tribute to be conferred, candidates must have demonstrated consistently superior mastery of teaching, outstanding service to students, and commitment to their ongoing intellectual growth, scholarship and professional growth, and adherence to rigorous academic standards and requirements. Further, a faculty member must have attained and held the rank of full professor for five years, have completed at least three years of full-time teaching on the nominating campus, 10 years of full-time teaching in the System, and must have regularly carried a full-time teaching load as defined by the campus.

Professor Nancy Hollingsworth is a scientist and teacher in the Department of Biochemistry & Cell Biology. Professor Hollingsworth is successfully combining teaching with having an active, funded research lab in which she uses genetics and biochemistry to understand meiosis with teaching genetics to students of all ages and types. She has been an outstanding and innovative educator for both undergraduate and graduate students, using techniques that engage the students, such as Interactive PowerPoint slides, Clicker questions, generation of question banks and discussion boards. She has the ability and mastery to take complicated biology topics and, using the Socratic Method, she allows the students to become masters of the material and fully understand the topics. Professor Hollingsworth maintains an open door policy for her students and is generous with her time and advice. At the same time, she maintains high standards for the rigorous courses she teaches. Professor Hollingsworth has received the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Since that award, she has generated new question banks for her students and made her lectures more interactive. She has introduced rational mathematical-like explanations and analysis to her courses, an approach that impacts and enhances student learning. She has also initiated science lectures and biology topics in the local high schools where she devotes her time.