![\"Dr.](\"\/camed\/files\/2021\/05\/BU-Today-Resize-21-1136-COLEMAN-024-e1620669793409.jpg\")
Teaching her first class last fall at the School of Medicine, postdoctoral associate Marianne Collard naturally had beginner\u2019s jitters. But in Fadie Coleman, Collard found a mentor who\u2019d taught students from college to middle and high school\u2014and was only too happy to teach a fellow teacher.<\/p>\n
\u201cI met with Dr. Coleman weekly, where she helped me refine my syllabus, plan class lessons, and evaluate students\u2019 learning,\u201d providing guidance that was \u201cexceptional,\u201d Collard wrote in a letter nominating\u00a0Coleman<\/a>\u00a0(CAS\u201997, MED\u201916), a MED assistant professor of medical sciences and education, for a 2021 Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching, one of Boston University\u2019s highest teaching honors.<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps Dr. Coleman\u2019s most admirable quality,\u201d Collard wrote, \u201cis her advocacy for diversity and equality. As a person of color herself, Dr. Coleman understands and empathizes with struggles minority students face, which comprise the majority of the BLCS program.\u201d<\/p>\n BLCS is the\u00a0Biomedical Laboratory & Clinical Sciences Program, a collaboration between MED and Metropolitan College, which offers evening classes for working students seeking bachelor\u2019s degrees in biotechnology. It\u2019s a gateway to STEM education\u2014perhaps the only one\u2014for underrepresented minorities and nontraditional students.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a point of pride for Coleman, who became the program\u2019s director on joining MED in 2017 and knows firsthand the value of such gateways. Growing up in New Jersey without professional role models, she says that \u201cpicturing myself as a scientist did not become a reality until I met encouraging mentors, who treated me like a scientist from the very first day\u201d at BU. A University summer internship at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital exposed her to medical research.<\/p>\n Senior year, she completed a career counseling survey \u201cout of pure curiosity\u201d and discovered a second passion: teaching. On graduating, she taught science in several Boston-area communities\u2014chemistry and physical science in middle school, biology, physical science, and laboratory research in high school\u2014and those years inform her University instruction.<\/p>\n \u201cMy experiences working with younger students help me to quickly assess where students are,\u201d Coleman says, \u201cand develop effective teaching strategies for introducing new material, reinforcing content knowledge, and encouraging critical thought at appropriate levels.\u201d She learned another valuable lesson: \u201cto reassure my students with great confidence that they can do the work. I love engaging with the range of students that I work with because it keeps me from forgetting what it was like to be in their shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n During her directorship, the BLCS has awarded 59 bachelor of science degrees, with another 21 anticipated for this year.<\/p>\n \u201cDr. Coleman redesigned the BLCS curriculum by integrating updated laboratory techniques, scientific writings, and streamlining the internship programs,\u201d her department chair,\u00a0Hee-Young Park<\/a>, a MED professor of medical sciences and education, wrote in her recommendation letter to the University\u2019s Teaching Awards Committee. \u201cThe redesigned curriculum was well received by the students and she received positive evaluations from the students.\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, and she taught four BLCS courses herself in each semester this academic year.<\/p>\n In addition to her BU degrees, Coleman earned a master\u2019s from Harvard.<\/p>\n A gift from the late Arthur G. B. Metcalf (Wheelock\u201935, Hon.\u201974), a BU Board of Trustees chair emeritus and former professor, funds the\u00a0Metcalf Cup and Prize and the Metcalf Awards for Excellence in Teaching<\/a>, created in 1973 as the University\u2019s highest teaching awards. The Cup and Prize winner receives $10,000; the Award winners, $5,000 each. A University committee selects winners based on statements of nominees\u2019 teaching philosophy, supporting letters from colleagues and students, and classroom observations of the nominees.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s Metcalf Cup and Prize winner is\u00a0Steve Ramirez<\/a>\u00a0(CAS\u201910), a College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences. The other Metcalf Award winner is\u00a0Dave Sullivan<\/a>, a CAS master lecturer in computer science. The Metcalfs will be presented at the University\u2019s 148th Commencement on May 16.<\/p>\n This BU Today<\/em> story was written by Rich Barlow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The assistant professor of medical sciences and education and director of the Biomedical Laboratory & Clinical Sciences Program has received a 2021 Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching. Congratulations!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":903,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[89,146,91],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94268"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/903"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94268"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94437,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94268\/revisions\/94437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}