One of UNC Asheville's most remarkable professors, Merritt W. Moseley, received the University of North Carolina Board of Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching on Thursday, April 12, during a luncheon ceremony at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Colleagues have high praise for Moseley's creativity in the classroom, skill as an interdisciplinary teacher, scholarly achievements, and commitment to students and the community.

Moseley joined UNCA in 1978 as a member of the Literature and Language Department. From the beginning of his teaching career, students have commented on his depth of knowledge, his quickness of wit, and the passion for learning and teaching he exhibits.

"He is among the very best of our professors," said Sarah Clere, a senior majoring in both classics and literature. "He teaches every class at a high intellectual level, yet he gets everyone involved and very interested in the material. And he's interested in students' lives as well, he's concerned about students as people, not just about academics." Clere, who plans on going to graduate school and teaching at a university, has taken several of Moseley's classes and finds him to be an inspiring role model. "He's involved across the campus, he publishes great things, he's active in community service and has a wonderful family. He manages to integrate all aspects of his life."

Moseley has taken on many campus roles, helping shape the lives of others through his efforts. He served as director of UNCA's Humanities Program and taught each of the four interdisciplinary courses in the program. As the first director of UNCA's Center for Teaching and Learning, he developed programs for both adjunct and continuing faculty. He led efforts to develop UNCA's Learning Community, which enhanced interdisciplinary instruction and interaction between faculty and students. He was instrumental in the creation of Bulldog Day, an annual service learning endeavor for new students, and assisted students in forming a service group for Habitat for Humanity. He helps direct student research and accompanies students to National Conferences on Undergraduate Research. He leads students in UNCA's summer program at Oxford University in England. He is widely published and has written numerous volumes introducing and analyzing the literary works of important contemporary writers. In addition to teaching in the literature department, he directs UNCA's Honors Program and the Faculty Exchange Program.

While his list of achievements is long, all of them lead back to his focus on teaching. "Good teaching means creating the best conditions for students' learning," Moseley said. "I try to do this by holding high expectations of my students; by being flexible and acknowledging that I too am still experiencing my own education; and by communicating my own excitement about reading and study and thinking. I hope my students are learning in my class but I hope they go on learning, with joy and satisfaction, for as long as they live."

Sarah Bumgarner, a UNCA graduate and lecturer in the Economics Department, first met Moseley when he became her academic advisor in 1979. "He has taught me by example, as an

advisee, a student and now a colleague. I can testify to the fact that his dedication to students and learning at all levels has been continuous and heartfelt for over 20 years. His influence is long lasting and goes much further than a single class or major," she said.