Students' Award for Teaching Excellence

To many people, electrical engineering might seem like a difficult subject to make exciting and fun, but not so for Praveen Sekhar, who loves his subject as well as his students. He integrates his passion into the curriculum and creates an environment where questions are welcomed and students’ creativity is celebrated. While his standards are high, students see him as human before professorial.

All aspects of Sekhar’s professional life—academic research, campus activities, business relationships, community connections, volunteerism—come together in the classroom. A recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence (2024) and Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Equity (2025), he has twice been nominated by his students for teaching excellence, including this year. And no wonder. He loves teaching, and they can see that he wants them to succeed in school and beyond.

For example, he replies to students’ emails within a few minutes, even on weekends. He checks on students who are absent from several classes and on those whose grades are declining. He stops students in the hallway and asks about their lives. He takes time to explain problems outside of class hours. “Dr. Sekhar is empathetic and understands life issues and makes reasonable accommodations without being unfair to others,” a student wrote in nominating him. He pays special attention to make sure that no one falls behind in class.

One semester, on the first day of an 8 a.m. class, Sekhar noticed that the students were tired, and many explained they hadn’t eaten yet. So Sekhar decided to bring breakfast bars and fruit to class throughout the semester to make sure they’d be alert to grasp the concepts.

He is strongly committed to students’ career readiness. In designing one senior-level course, he reached out to local industries to ask what topics and skills they look for when hiring. He routinely gives real-world applications of technologies the class is studying (such as sensors, his own research passion). When presenting new topics they’ve suggested, such as electric vehicles, he spends extra time preparing. He asks students whom they’d like to hear from and brings in speakers from those companies. Students benefit not only from the knowledge imparted but from the contacts they make in their chosen field.

In a course titled “Professional Ethics in Electrical Engineering” this spring, Sekhar incorporated a service-learning component, with students collaborating with local community partners on a project. This hands-on activity enhances their skills and knowledge, interactions with different kinds of people, and development of civic-mindedness and responsibility.

Sekhar’s contributions go far beyond his instructional responsibilities. He challenges himself to take risks, devote time to his classes and his students, and pursue initiatives that will get them thinking. He is engaged and enthused by the subject matter, and his interest is infectious.

Sekhar is a member of the WSU Teaching Academy. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Coimbatore Institute of Technology in India, and his master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of South Florida.