Brian Peterson
Department of Biology – Distance Education Coordinator
UNK Employee of the Month
July 2007
The UNK Staff Senate is pleased to recognize Mr. Brian Peterson as the July 2007 UNK Employee of the Month. Brian has long been associated with UNK, having earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Biology from UNK. In 2003, he accepted the position of coordinator of the Biology distance Master’s program and under his stewardship, the program has become the leading provider of a distance Biology MS degrees in the nation! It has grown from 43 students to more than 300 who have taken classes.
Within his role as Distance Education Coordinator, Brian answers questions posed by the distance students and provides communication that alert the students to upcoming deadlines such as registration and graduation. In addition, he coordinates the delivery of course materials to the students in the program. These materials consist of DVD’s of lectures and graded materials. This is a huge task because the program has more than 160 unique students taking a portion of 10 offered classes each semester. In addition to sending out mailings, Brian also aids with the inputting of grades and serves as a teaching assistant in the Soil Biology course. He also maintains the databases for the distance MS program allowing surveys of data necessary for assessment and re-accreditation.
What really makes Brian exceptional is that he accomplishes his job duties with a smile and a sense of enthusiasm. He is equally comfortable teaching a Biology 103 laboratory if someone is sick or covering an upper-division laboratory relating to soils or water chemistry. Beyond his normal job duties, Brian is also very active in research. He coordinates grant activities for the laboratory and serves to train and organize undergraduate and graduate workers on aquatic projects. He oversees these projects first hand with trips to the field and long weekend nights. He has made outstanding contributions to this research having assisted in research leading to three peer-reviewed manuscripts
Brian has made outstanding contributions to UNK in his role as distance MS coordinator. He takes time to teach others, both on the undergraduate and graduate levels. He is enthusiastic and efficient and he builds a sense of community within his department. For all of these reasons, the UNK Staff Senate is privileged to recognize Mr. Brian Peterson as the July 2007 Employee of the Month.
The Employee of the Month is sponsored by: UNK Athletics, UNK Theater, Campus Cuts, Chartwells and the Antelope Bookstore.