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University professors receive teaching honors

SCHEV presents commonwealth

Architecture School Prof. Timothy Beatley and Law School Prof. Jim Ryan are two of 12 recipients of the Outstanding Faculty Award, presented by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia. The award is the commonwealth's highest honor for faculty at Virginia's public and private colleges and universities. It recognizes superior accomplishments in teaching, research and public service. The SCHEV will present the awards, along with checks for $5,000, during a ceremony in Richmond Feb. 17.

Ryan, who has taught at the University for 12 years, said SCHEV nominates professors who have first received the All-University Teaching Award.

Law School Vice Dean Mary Elizabeth Magill nominated Ryan based on his teaching dedication in Law and Education. Ryan primarily studies law and educational opportunity, and has authored articles about education finances, desegregation, governance and preschool, among others. His work has appeared in several respected law reviews, including those from Yale and Harvard.

Ryan said he was compelled to research education policy topics because of his own progression through the educational system.

"The public system worked for me," he said. "I had parents who did not attend college but the system still worked for me and I wanted to know why...[it] failed for many others."

Beatley, who has taught at the University for 24 years, studies creative strategies by which cities and towns can reduce their ecological footprints while simultaneously becoming more livable and equitable places.\n"The goal is to create communities where people can walk or use bicycles for transportation, anything to get out of automobiles," he said.\nIn Beatley's book, "Biophilic Cities" , he presents a hypothesis called "biophilia" which states human beings have an innate need to connect with the natural world.\n"In biophilic cities, communities restore water, plant trees, grow foods [and] create green buildings in which people work and live," Beatley said.\nAccordingly, urban communities would also "green" exterior urban surfaces, adding vegetation to rooftops and walls on buildings, he said.\n"Biophilic cities are more enjoyable, livable and healthier, and statistics show that people are more healthy with connected with nature, including plants and animals," he said.

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