The Students’ Award for Teaching Excellence recognizes a faculty member who commits time outside of the classroom to prevent students from falling through the cracks, demonstrates an enthusiasm for the subject matter, and instills enthusiasm and passion in students.
Debra Wilmington
Associate Professor, Career Track, School of Biological Sciences
Debra Wilmington’s classes are “fun and engaging,” her student nominator wrote, but what really makes Wilmington stand apart is her compassion for her students.
Students with medical needs, for example, find Wilmington helpful and accommodating. “Dr. Wilmington’s kindness and concern for my friend has impressed all of us,” a student wrote. “Dr. Wilmington is a wonderful person who really cares for her students.”
In addition to teaching, Wilmington is an advisor for students working toward biology and pre-health majors. She is also faculty advisor to the Pre-Health and Pre-Dental clubs. The Pre-Health Club is the largest on campus and puts on multiple clinical events, such as X-ray workshops, each year.
Because pre-health students “need to be both realistic and passionate about their choice,” Wilmington said, she helps connect them with clinical or research experience through volunteer work or paying jobs, such as phlebotomy, medical scribing and lab jobs for the growing biotech presence in the Vancouver/Portland area.
Wilmington, who joined WSU Vancouver in 2012 after earning a doctorate in biomedical science from the University of Texas, teaches classes in physiology, genetics and nutritional science, among others. She is also taking part in a project funded by both federal and state grants to improve the transfer process for STEM students from community college to WSU Vancouver. It comes as no surprise that she is also a member of the Student Success Council—because helping students succeed in school and career readiness is the work she values most.
Her teaching philosophy is “to make class material relevant to their lives and goals, to meet students where they are and to be flexible,” Wilmington said. She brings “tools” such as blood pressure cuffs and stethoscopes to class so students can learn by doing, and she keeps her classes up to date on clinical developments and research. She also tries to get to know each student “to understand the best way to connect to and teach them.” Students get to know each other too. “I have a group that regularly hangs out in my office on Friday after my class,” she said. “I love the community they have developed and that they feel like they can be themselves around me.”
Of course, students stay in touch after graduation, too, sending news of career developments, marriages, babies. “Just this week, one of my first-generation students from about 10 years ago emailed me that she got into a surgery residence at the University of Washington,” Wilmington said. “I love that I got to be part of her path.”
Past award recipients
2022 – 2023
Gunjan Gakhar
2021 – 2022
Carol Siegel
2020 – 2021
Dene Grigar
2019 – 2020
Andra Chastain
2018 – 2019
Hua Tan
2017 – 2018
Dale Fortin
2016 – 2017
Enrique Brouwer
2015 – 2016
Gretchen Rollwagen-Bollens
2014 – 2015
Tom Tripp
2013 – 2014
Dene Grigar
2012 – 2013
Ron Pimentel
2011 – 2012
Wei Xue
2010 – 2011
Maria Lee-Lopez
2009 – 2010
Pavithra Narayanan
2008 – 2009
Dawn Banker
2007 – 2008
Marcelo Diversi
2006 – 2007
Mark Stephan
2005 – 2006
Christopher Plouffe
2004 – 2005
Paul Thiers
2003 – 2004
Kandy Robertson
2002 – 2003
Suzanne Smith
2001 – 2002
Melissa Gruys
2000 – 2001
Jackie McReynolds
1999 – 2000
Tom Tripp
1998 – 1999
Lori Irving
1997 – 1998
Carolyn Long
1996 – 1997
Mike Morgan
1995 – 1996
Claire Latham
Lori Irving
1994 – 1995
Corlene Ankrum
1993 – 1994
Jerry Goodstein
1992 – 1993
Randy Kleinhesselink
1991 – 1992
Charles “Cap” Peck
1990 – 1991
Georgie Weatherby