David Beard, Associate Professor of Rhetoric in the Program in Writing Studies, recently won the university-wide Outstanding Graduate Teacher/Advisor Award. According to Erik Brown, the Associate Vice Chancellor for Graduate Education and Research, “Successful graduate programs are built on foundations of effective advising, and your work with graduate students in English, Liberal Studies, and Literacy & Rhetorical Studies has been exemplary.”
Beard has served as Director of Graduate Studies for the Master of Liberal Studies, now called the Master of Professional Studies. There, he helps students devise their own path through interdisciplinary research. Beard serves as the UMD coordinator for the Minor in Literacy and Rhetorical Studies, and has advised many students in the MA in English at UMD.
Several of Beard’s students offered letters of support, saying that “his unmatched care for the professional, academic, and intellectual success of graduate students in both the English Graduate Program and the Literacy and Rhetorical Studies Minor is inspirational, and I strive to be anywhere near as talented, caring, and professional in my own work.” Another student said that “David was always available to me as a mentor, teaching me the skills that I needed to be successful as a teacher in the classroom.” Looking beyond the classroom, a third student said that “David’s approach to his course went far beyond preparing us for the classroom, incorporating aspects of professionalization I hadn’t expected but feel fortunate to have experienced when I did.”
At the undergraduate level, David serves as coordinator for the Major in Writing Studies and the Minor in Professional Writing. Stop by Humanities 420 to learn more about these programs.