Professor William Brieher has been selected by an awards committee to receive the LAS Dean’s Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, alongside four other professors at Illinois. This honor grants the recipients $1,000 to support their teaching and research, while a one-time increment of $2,000 will be added to the annual salary base of each recipient.

“The individuals being honored have been at the forefront of some of our best efforts in teaching and advising,” said Feng Sheng Hu, Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of LAS. “We are enormously proud and grateful for the work of this year’s awardees.”

William Brieher is a professor in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology. Colleagues commend Brieher for his innovative approach to encouraging critical thinking in students and showing them how to think like a scientist. Brieher brings research to the forefront of his teaching, often presenting two papers on the same subject—each of which come to different conclusions—and challenges students to explain opposing results. Brieher is also known for making tremendous efforts to make students feel comfortable in his classes.