Christy earns prestigious educator award

For Prof. Ann Christy, teaching is about inspiring and empowering students by engaging them in course content and the process of learning itself. The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) recently honored her exemplary commitment to scholarship, pedagogy and instruction. At the 129th APLU Annual Meeting on November 13, Christy received the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Excellence in College and University Teaching Award for Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Prior to becoming a faculty member at Ohio State, Christy worked full-time in the engineering consulting industry, which informs her teaching in courses such as bioenergy, biological engineering, environmental controls, professional development, thermodynamics, waste management, engineering design and college teaching. She has won multiple teaching awards at the college, university and national levels, including the Ohio State University Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. Her research focuses on bioenergy, environment, and engineering education, and she has generated over 120 publications.

Her service includes mentoring graduate students and young faculty in their own teaching. She helped found and subsequently chaired the Education Division of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

Christy most recently was interim director of the college’s Engineering Education Innovation Center. In that role, she facilitated the establishment of a new Department of Engineering Education, shepherding the relatively rare event of the birth of a new department. She now chairs the department’s graduate studies committee, which is designing curricula for proposed STEM education doctoral graduate studies with an engineering emphasis.

She earned both her B.S. (agricultural engineering) and M.S. (biomedical engineering) from The Ohio State University, and her Ph.D. (environmental engineering) from Clemson University.

Founded in 1887, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) is a research, policy, and advocacy organization representing 236 public research universities, land-grant institutions, state university systems, and affiliated organizations.

“Public universities’ primary mission is to educate students and inspire them to apply the skills and knowledge learned in the classroom to transform the world outside it,” said APLU Vice President Ian Maw. “Educators play a central role in helping students realize their full potential. This year’s winners of Excellence in College and University Teaching Awards for Food and Agricultural Sciences have demonstrated an uncompromising commitment to their students and the community they serve, and we’re delighted to spotlight their exceptional work in agricultural sciences.”