DATE: April 27, 2009

CONTACT: Bill Fisk, 864-656-5119
bill252@clemson.edu

WRITER: Angela Nixon, 864-656-0382
anixon@clemson.edu

Education professor named Alumni Master Teacher

CLEMSON — Clemson University students have chosen professor Bill Fisk — a teacher who teaches future teachers — as the Alumni Master Teacher for 2009. Fisk is chairman of the faculty of teacher education in Clemson’s Eugene T. Moore School of Education.

The Alumni Master Teacher Award is presented for outstanding undergraduate classroom instruction to a faculty member nominated by the student body and selected by the Student Alumni Council. Fisk received a $2,500 stipend and will be presented with a plaque at Commencement May 8.

Fisk received a bachelor’s degree with a double major in math and psychology, a master’s in school psychology and a Ph.D. in school psychology, all from Florida State University. Before joining the faculty at Clemson in 1986, he taught for seven years at the University of Texas at Tyler, where he was a tenured associate professor. He was named chairman of teacher education at Clemson in 2001. He also served as chairman of the educational foundations and special education department and as interim chairman of the curriculum and instruction department.

Fisk has taught courses on human growth and development, child development, learning theory, tests and measurements and educational psychology. Because of his duties as department chairman, he normally teaches only one class per semester, so to win an award for teaching came as a surprise to him.

“I coveted getting a major teaching award for many years. Since I became a chair in 1995, normally teaching only one undergraduate class a semester, I gave up any hope of ever getting such an award,” Fisk said. “There is no better award than to have education students, who understand a bit more about the whole teaching and learning process than many students, identify you as someone who does well at promoting learning.”

“He does a wonderful job putting potentially overwhelming or confusing information into a context that makes it easy to learn and, most importantly, remember,” wrote one student nominator. “His teaching is animated and interesting, and he has significantly impacted my education at Clemson University.”

Another student wrote, “His class is the only 8 a.m. class that I have ever looked forward to and enjoyed going to. He’s the best professor I’ve ever had at Clemson.”

“I love to see students learn and I desperately want to help my students be better prepared to go out into the world and be better teachers, and one day parents, with the knowledge and skills they learn in my education classes,” said Fisk.