AdPR doctoral students win UGA Outstanding Teaching awards

From left, Adam Avant, Kyongseok 'Kay' Kim, Nadine Billgen and Mark Lashley

Congratulations to Grady College doctoral students Adam Avant, Kyongseok “Kay” Kim, Nadine Billgen and Mark Lashley who were recently recognized by UGA’s Center for Teaching and Learning for this year's Outstanding Teaching Assistant award. Avant, Kim and Billgen are teaching assistants in the AdPR Department, and Lashley is teaching assistant in Telecommunications.

As teachers, Avant taught advertising and communication management, advertising and society, and served as an adviser for advertising campaigns. Kim taught advertising research and media planning, and Billgen taught PR administration and PR Research.

"These three students were recognized by UGA as some of the best doctoral students at the university," said Tom Reichert, AdPR Department Head. "Their teaching evaluations are consistently high and students remark that these instructors are doing an excellent job. I especially appreciate their versatility and top-notch teaching while pursuing their doctoral degrees."

All students have previous work experience. Before attending UGA, Avant was a TV news writer, producer, and an advertising account executive. Kim worked for an advertising agency and a film company before coming to the U.S. Billgen worked as PR manager for internal communication at Faber-Castell in Germany.

When asked what makes them a great TA, the three doctoral students said that they enjoy teaching and providing undergraduates with materials within students' interest zone, and integrating practical examples into classroom activities.

“Having just come out of a career in the field they are going into, I try to think about what can I do that is going to help them. I try to bring in more practical examples, more guests speakers, or simulations.” (Billgen)

“One thing that helps us become better teachers is the support we get. That back and forth and community we have among the graduate students who are teaching is really valuable.” (Avant)

“In my course evaluations, I’m always told by my students that my class is very well organized. Every class I try to show a big picture of the class and remind students where they are so they can coordinate the learning effort by themselves and have a sense of learning. Students can benefit from the teacher, but the teacher can benefit more from the students.” (Kim)