During Kent State University’s English Department Awards Ceremony on April 27, one of Kent State Geauga’s English faculty members received the eminent Full-Time Outstanding Composition Instructor Award (OCIA). Bonnie Shaker, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English at both the Burton and Twinsburg locations, shares this high honor along with Dr. Alexis Baker from Kent State Stark Campus.
Each year, Kent State University honors graduate and part-time instructors as well as full-time faculty members across its eight campuses who are nominated by their students for being among the most dedicated, highly effective and motivated professors. The Outstanding Composition Instructor Award is presented by the Kent State English Writing Program Committee.
Kent State University’s Writing Program Coordinator Dr. Jennifer M. Cunningham, Associate Professor of English, explained the selection process in her written announcement: All students who were enrolled in College Writing courses during Spring, Summer, and Fall 2021 were contacted to nominate excellent instructors for the award. Eighty-four of those students nominated 57 instructors for the OCIA. Then 16 of those instructors submitted a portfolio for review and underwent in-class observations. The Writing Program Committee selected the 2021-2022 Outstanding Composition Instructor Award winners from among these finalists.
Dr. Cunningham noted “how difficult these decisions were to make this year. Each finalist was excellent and deserving of the award, which speaks to the quality of instructors we have at Kent State.”
In nominating Dr. Shaker for the OCIA, one of her students wrote: “Professor Shaker has been a wonderful asset in my writing journey. She challenges me to become a better writer and teaches me how to use the rhetorical tools we learn about during in-class lectures. She constantly encourages her students and builds up the class while making sure we are on track with our writing.”
Outstanding teaching begets outstanding writing. Dr. Shaker’s dedication to student success is evident in the writing excellence her students consistently achieve in competition. For the fifth consecutive year, Dr. Shaker’s students brought home Writing Excellence Awards at the annual awards ceremony (seven this academic year alone). In total, 24 of her students have been recognized with first- and second-year writing prizes since 2015. Seven have placed first.
Upon receiving notice of her first-time OCIA, Dr. Shaker expressed, “I am just so humbled. Kent State has such fine writing program administration and so many superb composition faculty. I am lucky to work among them.”
During the awards ceremony, Dr. Shaker expressed her appreciation for the English Department, Writing Program Committee and Writing Program Coordinators, saying, “By investing what we do with importance, you create a supportive environment where we all can perform our very best work.”
This recognition fuels her motivation as a composition instructor. Dr. Shaker explains, “As a member of the English faculty, it’s encouraging to hear that what we do matters. Because higher education is increasingly compelled to defend its purpose in practical terms, the benefits of good writing can get lost in the conversation. But as research confirms, today’s students are the writing-most generation in human history. From email to social media, students spend significant portions of their day writing. English faculty have a key role to play in students’ futures.”
She reminds students that “words are powerful, which they instinctively know from their youth. Many students wrote poetry and songs or made up stories in their youth; they loved wordplay and were exhilarated by the creative process. I try to tap into that early love of writing to remind students of the good they can do just by using their own words.”
Dr. Shaker adapts her teaching approach to each student’s needs. She explains, “Every year, the challenge for me as a composition instructor is just to teach writing well: to not miss any steps but also to not get ahead of my skis. Pacing the instruction and making sure the students are with me is so important. Like writing itself, teaching is a recursive process of progressing, reviewing, and revising continually throughout a semester. Students move forward even as they double back and strengthen weaknesses. It’s a lot of work on both our parts, but student success is so rewarding. That’s why I teach.”
Evidently, Dr. Shaker measures her own fulfillment by her students’ success. “The best feeling of all is when students’ emails come through telling me of their wins. They are thrilled, and so am I.”
Now, as an Outstanding Composition Instructor Award winner, it seems fitting that Dr. Shaker is receiving recognition for her own achievements, as reflected by the brilliance of her winning students.