Coastal Now Menu

HTC Distinguished Teacher Scholar Lecturer Award winner announced

Chris Hill, associate professor of biology, has received the 2011 HTC Distinguished Teacher Scholar Lecturer Award.

The award is presented annually by HTC to a CCU faculty member who has outstanding abilities as a teacher, scholar and communicator.

Hill’s commitment to students enables him to make a connection between his teaching and his scholarly activities. In support of these efforts, for several years he has overseen the Spivey Ornithology Endowment, which directs research funding to the support of undergraduate students. He has advised 35 to 55 biology majors per semester for 11 years, and, since the establishment of the Center for Marine and Wetland Studies interdisciplinary program, he has mentored between one and five master's students per year. Additionally, Hill has supervised the summer research project of two students from the S.C. Governor’s School.

As a scholar, Hill has conducted extensive research involving the salt marsh sparrow, a bird indigenous to the shoreline of the U.S. Southeast. The adaptive advantage of their mating strategies is now hotly-debated by bird enthusiasts. He was assisted by a CCU student in his work, and together they wrote a paper which appeared first in the prestigious international journal AUK, and later in popular accounts disseminated via The Horry Independent, The Hartford Courant, Discovery news video, and the British Broadcasting Corporation. "Hill’s ability to continue his scholarly activities while balancing his commitment to students speaks highly to this distinction as a teacher-scholar," according to Provost Robert Sheehan, who announced the award recently.

As winner of the HTC Distinguished Teacher Scholar Lecturer Award, Hill will present his research to the public on March 28 in Wall Auditorium. The title of his presentation will be “Birds on the Edge of Two Worlds.”
 

Article Photos