Great teaching cannot be accomplished without first taking great responsibility in the classroom, said Betul Orcan-Ekmekci, an associate teaching professor in mathematics and Rice University’s 2024 recipient of the George R. Brown Prize for Excellence in Teaching.
“Successful teaching all comes down to being aware of student needs,” Orcan-Ekmekci said. “Teachers should avoid defining their craft as simply covering the scheduled contents during the designated times.”
She said it’s also important to enter the classroom with curiosity to learn about your students and adapt your teaching strategies.
“Each classroom will be different,” she said. “So, please, act accordingly.”
Orcan-Ekmekci said Rice’s Center for Teaching Excellence and Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry offer numerous resources throughout the year.
“I encourage all of my fellow faculty members to take advantage of these opportunities, and, please, be patient with the teaching process!” she said.
When she’s not teaching at Rice, Orcan-Ekmekci is a mother of three — all of whom play soccer. In addition to keeping busy with family life, she loves cooking and spending time in nature.
The George R. Brown Prize is not Orcan-Ekmekci’s first teaching accolade at Rice. She won the George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching in 2021 and 2023 and the 2024 Outstanding Teaching Award from the Wiess School of Natural Sciences.
Orcan-Ekmekci said she is “beyond happy and honored” to be recognized with Rice’s top teaching award this year.
“Each one of us brings different experiences to the classroom,” she said. “The instructor’s responsibility is to provide a learning environment to students that will spark their curiosity to learn and give them the courage to try to learn and apply the new skills beyond the classroom."