Mathematician Receives Jean Holloway Award for Excellence in Teaching
Amanda Hager was recognized for demonstrating "a warm spirit, a concern for society and the individual, and the ability to impart knowledge while challenging students to independent inquiry and creative thought."
Amanda Hager, an associate professor of instruction in the Department of Mathematics, has been awarded the 2021 Jean Holloway Award for Excellence in Teaching, in recognition of her dedication to students. The student body is entirely responsible for the nomination, selection and award processes for the annual award, given exclusively to faculty in the Colleges of Natural Sciences and Liberal Arts.
Amanda Hager has been a Longhorn since 2011. She earned her Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Iowa and worked at the United States Military Academy at West Point. A highly regarded educator, Hager received a College of Natural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award in 2015, a Dads' Association Centennial Teaching Fellowship (2015-16) and a UT Austin President's Associates Teaching Excellence Award in 2016.
Hager is the fourth mathematician to win the Jean Holloway Award with other winners from her department including James Vick, Katherine Davis and Michael Starbird.
The Jean Holloway Award for Excellence in Teaching was created in 1970 with an endowment from past Texas Exes president Sterling Holloway and his wife, Jean. It has been supplemented over the years by gifts from Jean's daughter and her grandchildren.
Recipients must demonstrate a warm spirit, a concern for society and the individual, and the ability to impart knowledge while challenging students to independent inquiry and creative thought. He or she must also show a respect for and understanding of the permanent values of our culture.
The most recent College of Natural Sciences recipients are: Nace Golding (2019), Calvin Lin (2013), John Wallingford (2010), Alan Cline (2009), Austin Gleeson (2008) and Arturo De Lozanne (2006).
