arbondale campus where she is a professor of
speech communication.Dr. Mary Lou Higgerson ('70) was named this year's outstanding teacher at Southern
Illinois University's Carbondale campus where she is a professor of
speech communication.
She will receive a $5,000 cash prize in September during a recognition dinner for faculty and staff. Her name will also appeared in the spring commencement program.
Higgerson, whose academic specialties focus on communication theory, persuasion and advocacy, teaches both undergraduate and graduate students.
"I believe that effective teaching not only imparts learning but builds confidence and pride," she says. "Students who have confidence in their abilities and potential will continue to learn after the semester ends. I work to help students know their strengths and potential strengths."
After learning that Higgerson had been nominated for the award, more than 20 of her students wrote lengthy and enthusiastic endorsements of her teaching skills. They cited her grasp of her material, her varied and innovative techniques, her high standards, her fairness, her interest in and involvement with her students, and her sense of humor.
Higgerson earned her bachelor's degree from Clarion, her master's degree from Central Michigan State University in 1971, and her doctorate from the University of Kansas in 1974.
She joined the Southern Illinois faculty in 1973, worked more than four years in a full-time administrative post, and returned to the classroom in 1992. Higgerson was her department's outstanding teacher last fall and had won the College of Communications and Fine Arts teaching award in 1980.