Dr. Margaret Downes

One of UNC Asheville's most influential professors, Margaret Downes, received the University of North Carolina Board of Governors' Award for Excellence in Teaching on Friday, May 9, at a special luncheon in Chapel Hill. She was presented a commemorative bronze medallion and a $7,500 cash prize.

Downes, who joined UNCA in 1981 as a professor in the Literature and Language Department, is a noted campus leader in the classroom, among faculty and further afield in the U.S. and abroad.

Downs has taught classes for freshman all the way through to graduate students, and in programs as far ranging as Women's Studies, Africana Studies and Master's of Liberal Arts. Her students find her classes inclusive and compelling and she was presented the UNCA Distinguished Teacher Award in 1987.

"At a university known for excellent teaching, Peg Downes ranks among the very best teachers," said Rick Chess, a UNCA literature professor and director of the Center for Jewish Studies. "Peg is wise. She shares her wisdom in a friendly, accessible way with her students. She clearly sees herself in the role of mentor, and she wants to help students not only become great students at UNCA but great citizens of the world."

"She is the kind of teacher I hope to be, one who is able to reach her students and affect positive change in their lives." said Suzanne L. Parenti, a senior literature major who plans on a teaching career.

Kim Borden, a junior majoring in psychology, absolutely loved the Humanities course she took with Downes. "I learned from Dr. Downes that the ancients planted the seeds of our modern world, that we are more like our ancestors than different from them, and that we are more like our fellow human travelers than unlike them. . . . She taught us that when we connect with our past we could understand our present. Her ability to synthesize all cultures past and present into one huge human family was most remarkable."

In addition to teaching, Downes also served for six years as director of the Humanities Program, a nationally acclaimed set of four interdisciplinary courses that explore the wide range of human ideas, values and institutions. She also served as UNCA's first N.E.H. Distinguished Professor of Teaching in the Humanities, and twice chaired the Literature and Language Department.

Among her other campus achievements, she helped established UNCA's "Bridge Program" with A-B Tech, which allows students to take a UNCA Humanities course on the A-B Tech campus; laid the groundwork for Center for Teaching and Learning, a faculty resource that facilitates teaching excellence; and is the director of the Key Center for Service-Learning, which encourages students to undertake community service projects and incorporate their experiences into classroom learning.

"She has been the instrumental factor in the Key Center for Service Learning's impact on UNCA curriculum -- helping faculty and students identify and develop experiences that spark reflection on how material in their courses has relevance and impact on life outside academia," said Patrician McClellan, director of UNCA's Center for Teaching and Learning.

Downes was presented UNCA's Feldman Award for Outstanding Scholarship and Service for her campus leadership in 2000.

Downes love of the Humanities and the liberal arts has led to her work on the national and international levels. She is the co-director of the Asheville Institute on General Education, co-sponsored with the American Association of Colleges and Universities, and is president-elect of the National Association of General and Liberal Studies. She has served as a consultant to colleges and universities across the U.S., assisting institutions with their Humanities programs and interdisciplinary teaching.

Her work abroad includes an ongoing consultancy to the Aga Kahn Humanities Project at seven Central Asian universities in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstand and Kazakhstan. An article concerning her efforts in the Aga Kahn project was published this winter in Liberal Education, a publication of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Media Contacts:

• Merianne Epstein, UNCA Public Information director, 251-6676