Category: News || By Submitted Report

A faculty member at Penn State's campus in McKeesport has won a statewide award for excellence and been named one of the university's 2013 Teaching Fellows.

Veronica Montecinos, professor of sociology at Penn State Greater Allegheny, has been named recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award from the Penn State Alumni Association.

The award was established in 1988 to honor distinguished teaching and provides encouragement and incentive for excellence, a spokeswoman said.

Montecinos joined the faculty in 1990. She is one three professors in the Penn State system to receive this year's honors. The others are Julia Spicher Kasdorf of the College of Liberal Arts and Jeffery Sharp of the Smeal College of Business, both in University Park.

A graduate of the Catholic University of Chile, Montecinos also holds masters of arts degrees in sociology and political science and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Pittsburgh. Nearly 10 years ago, she created the McKeesport campus' "Teaching International" program.

The multidisciplinary initiative aims at strengthening the intellectual climate of the campus, educating students about trends of global significance through the study of various countries and world regions. This program has developed into a model of global education based on course lectures, class projects, student research, public debates, service learning activities, theater productions, films and guest lectures.

Montecinos's research focuses on democratization, technocracy and public policy, the history of economics and economic ideas in Latin America, and gender politics. She is the author of "Economists, Politics and the State: Chile 1959-1994" and co-editor of "Economists in the Americas."

She has also served as discipline coordinator for the Social Sciences and Education for Penn State's 14 campuses and is the International programs coordinator at Penn State Greater Allegheny.

Montecinos said she believes in addressing students as global citizens. Students in her political science classes must bring in a copy of the New York Times each day.

"She had a passion in guiding us to be involved and aware of everything going on in today's society," said one student quoted in the award citation. Another said. "Dr. Montecinos is able to connect the course material very well to the student's life."

"Teaching with an eye on real-world events is a great incentive to keep learning," Montecinos said. "Students in my classes discover that the value of education lies in the ability to act as deliberating citizens as well as in the acquisition of specialized skills."

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Editor's Note: Written entirely from press releases supplied by Linda Curinga, director of marketing, Penn State Greater Allegheny

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