Aerial view of campus with Williamsport, the Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Mountain as a backdrop

Lycoming Faculty receive teaching awards at Honors Convocation

Lycoming Faculty receive teaching awards at Honors Convocation

(l-r) Trachte, Rogers, Wagner, Sprunger

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Lycoming College awarded two faculty members for their teaching excellence at its annual Honors Convocation ceremony on April 23 at Williamsport’s Community Arts Center.

Plankenhorn Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence

The 2023 Plankenhorn Alumni Award for Faculty Excellence was presented to Amy Rogers, Ph.D. ’92, professor and chair of the education department, and associate provost for assessment and accreditation. Rogers’ area of expertise lies in the correlation between local history and a student’s level of civic mindedness and engagement. Her teaching and research areas include teacher leadership, instructional coaching/mentoring of teacher educators, civic engagement, and local history.

Rogers is responsible for the secondary teacher education program and teacher certification program, where she teaches and advises education students seeking middle and/or secondary certification. She also serves on the board of directors to the Pennsylvania Association of College and Teacher Educators, a non-profit that promotes educational programs and provides professional growth opportunities for professionals who teach, prepare and develop new educators. At the national level, Rogers is an active member in the Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) and serves on the Taskforce on Addressing the Needs of Cooperating/Mentor/Associate Teachers in their Practices and Roles as Mentors and Supervisors of the Novice Teacher. Most recently, Amy was appointed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to serve on the Committee on Education Talent, helping to ensure the growth of the teacher workforce or rural, suburban, and urban schools.

Rogers has a bachelor’s degree in history from Lycoming College, a master’s degree in education from Bloomsburg University, and earned a doctoral degree from Pennsylvania State University.

Junior Faculty Teaching Award

Phoebe Wagner, Ph.D. ’14, assistant professor of English, was awarded the 2023 Junior Faculty Teaching Award. Wagner is a writer, editor, and academic whose work and research focuses on the intersection of climate change and speculative fiction.

Wagner’s academic research explores how the predictive futures unintentionally imagined in speculative fiction can inspire new systems of adaptation and transformation during the climate crisis. In her classes, Wagner combines her experience in the world of publishing with the skillsets of her students to help them broaden their horizons and elevate their writing.

Wagner earned a bachelor’s degree from Lycoming College, a master’s degree of fine arts in creative writing from Iowa State University, and a doctoral degree in English literature from the University of Nevada, Reno. Wagner recently published her debut novella “When We Hold Each Other Up,” and later this year will release her debut novel “A Shot of Gin.”

Lycoming College is proud of its talented and committed professors, who continue to add to the culture of student learning while advancing the College’s goal of offering a 21st-century liberal arts education.