Spina Receives Best Teaching Award from
Graduate School of Business Administration Zϋrich
 |
| l-r Prof. Dr. William Holstein (joint award
winner), Prof. Dr. Sal Belardo (master of ceremonies) and Prof. Dr.
James D. Spina (joint award winner) |
Jim Spina, a lecturer in the
management and organization department at the Robert H. Smith School of
Business, was selected as a recipient of the “Best Team Teaching Award” from the
Graduate School of Business Administration Zϋrich (GSBA) in Switzerland. The
award was presented on February 9, 2009 at the Zϋrich MBA Forum, the theme of
which was “Management Challenges 2009.”
The Smith School and GSBA have partnered together since 2005 to deliver a
global executive MBA (EMBA) program, known as the SMITH-GSBA Global EMBA. The
team teaching award is given once a year and based upon the student evaluation
ratings given to all the instructors. Spina and his partner from GSBA, Dr. Bill
Holstein, delivered instruction over a ten day period to MBA students enrolled
in the R.H. Smith School/GSBA joint program. Spina and Holstein received the top
ratings from students compared to all other teams in the 2008 school year.
“My philosophy of teaching is to take students where I find them, in terms of
the degree of knowledge/skills they have in corporate strategy, and to help them
develop and enhance those skills and that knowledge to the greatest degree
possible,” stated Spina. His classroom instruction is student centered and
incorporates a great deal of "give and take" discussion. Spina employs an
experiential approach, rather than lecture, and allows his students great
freedom in discovering new concepts and applying creative thinking to problem
solving; one of his favorite teaching phrases when a student contributes to the
topic at hand is “tell me more.”
This year marks Spina’s 51st as a teacher.“What I enjoy most about the
profession is the ability to use creative ways to deliver instruction to
students and wait for the "a-ha" moments that result from what they learn,” said
Spina
Winning such awards is nothing new for Spina. In addition to the GSBA award,
Spina received student recognition at the Shady Grove Campus as the "Professor
of the Year" in 2004, was selected for the Krowe Teaching Award in 2007, earned
a Top 15% Teaching Award in 2008 and was formally recognized by the University
of Maryland in February 2009 for "Outstanding Performance" as a lecturer over
the past nine years.
Pete Baird, Smith Media Group, MBA Candidate 2009
