Story by Mark Walden
Portraits by John Consoli

Maryland’s Isabel Lloyd is switching offices. She has formed a walkway from her door to her desk, 17 years’ worth of papers stacked on either side. Each one is a measure of her devotion to scholarship and teaching.

An associate professor of materials, science and engineering, Lloyd studies the effects of processing on ceramics. If you have a dental crown, it’s possible that Lloyd helped design it. Cooperating with the National Institutes of Health as well as experts at Princeton, New York University and elsewhere, she and her students are creating stronger dental materials.

At the University of Maryland, there is a common thread that connects ground-breaking researchers like Isabel Lloyd to others studying everything from Japanese educational systems to termites. That common thread is great teaching, says Spencer Benson, director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Maryland. “Great teachers take students into this academic place that is challenging, where it’s not information in and information out.”

Lloyd’s interest in students earned her a 2003 Advisor of the Year Award nomination. One year later, philanthropist Philip Merrill brought his Presidential Scholars Program to Maryland. Twenty-five undergraduates were selected—all of whom named a K-12 teacher and a Maryland faculty member that had the greatest impact on their academic achievements. Lloyd was one of those teachers.

“I’m building out in front of me for society, for the next person down the line, for my students,” she says. “I’m an idealist.”

Where do Maryland’s great teachers come from? How do they balance the rigors of research with the demands of the classroom? Selecting only seven to represent more than 2,000 full- and part-time instructional faculty is a challenge. But so is leading two courses while advising, reviewing peer journal articles and attending departmental meetings …

Read more about great teachers at Maryland including

• professor of biological resources engineering Adel Shirmohammadi,
• termite expert Barbara Thorne,
• Distinguished University Professor Ira Berlin,
• professor of education Barbara Finklestein,
• English lecturer Michael Olmert, and
• John S. Toll Professor of Physics Sylvester James Gates Jr.

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Great Teaching, In Your Words …

The 2005 academic year marks Maryland’s sesquicentennial. Though it started small, this university—with its mission to teach and investigate—has always been carried on the shoulders of giants. Here are a few you may or may not remember …

Franklin Cooley, Professor of English (1939–1971)

“He drove me to do better and I did.”
—Mollee Coppel Kruger ’50

Daniel Prescott, Professor of Education (1947–1968)

“The assumptions that he made that everybody’s life is valuable and that everybody has potential—that inspires people and it certainly inspired me.”
—Jacob Goering ’50 Ph.D in an interview with Elizabeth Tobey, project coordinator for Landmarks and Legacies: The College of Education History Project.

P.W. Zimmerman, Professor and Dean of Agriculture (1916–1927)

“We had Dean Zimmerman down to the house for dinner. He gave us a splendid talk on building character and making friends in college.”
—J. Franklin Witter ’28, in a letter to his girlfriend, Francis King, on May 27, 1927

Gordon Prange, Professor of History (1937–1980)

“Students on their way to parties used to pack an auditorium on Friday nights dressed in togas to hear Prange—he would bring historical characters to life onstage. He knew his subject well and was demanding. Prange’s gone but definitely not forgotten.”
—Donald Goldstein ’54

Tell us about your great Maryland teachers on the TerpBlog: www.terp3101.squarespace.com.

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