2023 – 2024 Diane M. Lee Teaching Award
Janet R. Gross, Lecturer, English and Academic Engagement and Transition First Year Seminar
Janet Gross has been teaching first-year students at UMBC since 2017. She is known for her commitment and unwavering support to new students. Her first-year composition courses step students through the writing process and she cheerfully makes herself available for clarifications and quelling student anxieties. In addition, Janet has taught the invaluable course Introduction to an Honors University (now known as University 101), settling the new students into university life at UMBC through topics such as academic success, healthy self-care and self-knowledge, global education, career exploration, financial skills and campus resources. To better her teaching, Janet is a regular participant in year-long faculty development programs, most recently in inclusive teaching, contemplative pedagogies and fostering critical thinking. A tireless advocate of enriching students and exposing them to available opportunities, she is planning to take a group of new Retrievers to Ireland this summer. Her passion, support, and care ensures that first-year students transform to firmly established, “whole” Retrievers.