November 17, 2011 -- The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education have named Professor Susan Anderson the 2011 SC Professor of the Year. Anderson was selected from nearly 300 top professors in the United States.
Professor Anderson is the founder of the USC Dance program and artistic director of the USC Dance Company. She received the SC Governor's Professor of the Year award in 2009, as well as the Michael Mungo Distinguished Professor award from the University of SC.
Since joining the university in 1975, the dance program under Anderson's leadership has established a firm foundation that has, in recent years, grown by leaps and bounds. A Bachelor of Arts degree with concentrations in Dance Performance and Dance Education was approved in 2006 and new state-of-the-art studios opened in 2009.
CASE and the Carnegie Foundation have been partners in offering the U.S. Professors of the Year awards program since 1981. TIAA-CREF, one of America's leading financial services organizations and higher education's premier retirement system, became the principal sponsor for the awards ceremony in 2000. Additional support for the program is received from a number of higher education associations, including Phi Beta Kappa, which sponsors an evening congressional reception.
This year, there are 27 state winners. CASE assembled two preliminary panels of judges to select finalists. The Carnegie Foundation then convened the third and final panel, which selected four national winners. CASE and Carnegie select state winners from top entries resulting from the judging process. Professor Anderson was selected from faculty members nominated by colleges and universities throughout the country.
The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is an independent policy and research center that supports needed transformations in American education through tighter connections between teaching practice, evidence of student learning, the communication and use of this evidence, and structured opportunities to build knowledge.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with offices in London, Singapore and Mexico City, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education is a professional association serving educational institutions and the advancement professionals at all levels who work in alumni relations, communications, fundraising, marketing and other areas.
