Credit: Provided

The National Association of Biology Teachers' (NABT) 1999 Four-year College and University Teaching Award has been conferred on Rita A. Calvo, director of the Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers and a senior lecturer in molecular biology and genetics at Cornell.

The award for innovative teaching was presented Oct. 29 at the national meeting of the 7,500-member organization in Fort Worth, Tex., and includes a $1,000 prize.

Since the Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers (CIBT) began in 1989 with funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, more than 250 teachers have completed a three-week summer program to update their knowledge and teaching skills in molecular biology. The teachers -- mainly from upstate New York as well as from Boston, Cleveland and Hartford -- also learn some of 50 new laboratory exercises that are designed for high school classrooms and are developed in collaboration between teachers and university scientists. CIBT assists teachers with technology-intensive labs by running an equipment-lending library. In addition to teaching the new information and labs to their students, the teachers have trained dozens of other teachers.

Cornell's biology outreach programs continue to expand, Calvo said, pointing to workshops for new and pre-service teachers, return-to-campus events for teachers who bring along their students, teacher-training workshops in New York City at Cornell's Weill Medical College and in upstate New York at Corning Community College, AP Days at Cornell for advanced-placement students who participate in workshops and lectures, national distribution of curricula developed through CIBT, and the creation of teaching labs that high schoolers will use to educate elementary students.

At Cornell, Calvo teaches Biology 482 (Human Genetics and Society) and Biology 282 (Human Genetics for non-majors). Receiving the award, Calvo said she tries to serve "as bridge between the world of a research university and the world of high school biology. Teaching human genetics to university undergraduates makes me keep up with this fast-moving field, and lets me bring this updated information and excitement to high school teachers."

The university's investment in CIBT, which was developed by Calvo and by Peter Bruns, professor of molecular biology and genetics, is beginning to pay off for Cornell: "Lots of our teachers send some of their best students to Cornell," she said.

Ever the teacher, the prizewinner couldn't stop at just attending the NABT convention. Calvo and two CIBT alumni presented a laboratory exercise to 55 teachers that uses goldenrod galls to teach principles of genetics to high schoolers. Three of her former pupils also led workshops for dozens of instructors on innovative CIBT labs.