John Seiler of Christiansburg, Va., the Honorable and Mrs. S. H. Short Professor of Forestry in Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources, was awarded the Ernest L. Boyer International Award for Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology.

This international award given by the Center for Advancement of Teaching and Learning headquartered at Florida Community College at Jacksonville, Fla., recognizes exceptional faculty achievements in enhancing the learning process.

Seiler was a nominee for the top award after receiving the Award for Innovative Excellence in Teaching, Learning and Technology at the Fifteenth International Conference on College Teaching and Learning. Seiler was chosen for the Boyer International Award from 30 Innovative Award recipients.

Seiler received the award on March 31 at a ceremony in Jacksonville, Fla. He has received numerous other top teaching awards from Virginia Tech, the state of Virginia, and national professional societies.

Virginia Tech nominated Seiler for his innovative learning strategies and use of technology. For teaching his tree identification dendrology class, Seiler and his colleagues have developed a Macromedia Authorware Database to help students identify more than 470 tree species which includes more than 9,500 color photographs. The program presents information to students in a tutorial format in which they can work at their own pace and revisit the information until they have mastered it. Studies have shown that Seiler's multimedia innovations help students learn dendrology better and quicker.

His dendrology webpage (www.cnr.vt.edu/dendro) is used each week by thousands of students and professionals from across the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a link to his site on its well-known PLANTS database site.

Seiler's teaching and research focus on environmental stress effects on woody plant physiology.

Seiler received two bachelor's degrees and a master's degree from Pennsylvania State University and a Ph.D. from Virginia Tech.

The College of Natural Resources at Virginia Tech consistently ranks among the top five programs of its kind in the nation. Faculty members stress both the technical and human elements of natural resources and instill in students a sense of stewardship and land-use ethics. Areas of studies include environmental resource management, fisheries and wildlife sciences, forestry, geospatial and environmental analysis, natural resource recreation, urban forestry, wood science and forest products, geography, and international development.

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech has grown to become the largest university in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Today, Virginia Tech's eight colleges are dedicated to putting knowledge to work through teaching, research, and outreach activities and to fulfilling its vision to be among the top 30 research universities in the nation. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 full- and part-time undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.

Share this story