Bucks art history Professor
Roberta Mayer has won the prestigious
2010 Pennsylvania
Professor of the Year award for
her dedicated and innovative
teaching methods.

The award recognizes the most
phenomenal undergraduate
teachers throughout the U.S.
According to the organization’s
website, www.usprofessorsoftheyear.
org, the award distinguishes
“those who excel in
teaching and positively influence
the lives and careers of students.”

Mayer was invited to
Washington D.C. for an award
ceremony in which she was able
to talk with other recipients from
different states. She also had the
opportunity to listen to each one
of the four nationally recognized
winners chosen from these categories;
community college professor,
baccalaureate college professor,
doctoral and research university
professor, master’s universities
and college professor.

When asked about the experience
of being in Washington
with so many other renowned
colleagues she said, “It was
amazing to see how much these
teachers cared about their students;
to me that is the most
important part of the award – the
relationships with our students.”

In a news release on the Bucks
website, Mayer discusses winning
the 2010 Pennsylvania
Professor of the Year award.
“One of the things I bring to the
award is modeling a level of professionalism.
Not only am I passionate
about teaching. I’ve written
articles in peer-reviewed
publications and lectured about
art history,” she says.

As well as attending the ceremony
in Washington, former Pa.
Sen. Arlen Specter wrote a formal
letter of congratulations to
Mayer.

Mayer has an extensive history
with Bucks that spans over a
decade. Since 1999 Mayer has
been teaching classes at the college.
In 2001 she worked as a
library instructional designer for
Bucks, helping to incorporate the
online-research database JSTOR
into the college’s facilities.

One of the aspects of Mayer’s
teaching is an innovative
approach to extending her lessons
inside, and outside, of the
classroom. A strong proponent
of integrating online support for
all of her classes, she provides
many resources via BBVista for
her students to use.

For example, as well as putting
all of her PowerPoint lessons and
Internet links on each class’s
page, she includes audio links to
explanations of topics discussed
in class.

Mayer said, “It is so important
to illustrate and structure my lessons
online for the benefit of my
students. Offering a new perspective
on a work of art, like an
audio discussion link for the
work, is sometimes all you need
to see the artwork so much more
profoundly.”

Mayer doesn’t limit herself to
one position at the college. “I am
very busy with teaching my
classes as well as holding the
position of the Visual Arts Head
here at Bucks,” she says.
Being the Visual Arts Head she
acts as a liaison between Visual
Arts faculty and administration
which includes conducting meetings,
and preparing surveys and
interviews.

Mayer enjoys taking on these
responsibilities, “Balancing both
positions, the Visual Arts and
teaching positions, is an experience
that I love because it allows
me to be more involved with the
arts program here at Bucks.”

Mayer’s own educational journey
has been an interesting one.
When asked about her degrees
she said, “I started college in a
completely different field than
what I am teaching; I received a
Bachelor’s and Master’s degree
in chemical engineering and toxicology
from Rutgers long before
I went back to school to pursue
degrees in art history. I started
with the pragmatic job in chemical
engineering for a while until I
decided to go ahead and study
art history like I had always
wanted to.”

Mayer received her Bachelor’s
degree in art history in 1993 from
Rutgers University. Several years
later, in 1996 and 2000, she
received her Master’s and Ph.D.
in art history from the University
of Delaware.

With her education and
degrees in place Mayer eagerly
set out to further explore the
field of art history, and more
specifically, publishing books on
topics she is interested in. With
over four books and many articles
published, Mayer has shown
how passionate she is about
what she teaches.

Her published books cover
topics from a centuries old glass
artist, “Tiffany Glass: A Passion
for Colour,” to a famous artistic
decorator, “Lockwood de Forest:
Furnishing the Gilded Age with
a Passion for India.”

In September 2004 Mayer published
a book, in conjunction
with an art exhibit, titled “Stella
Elkins Tyler: A Legacy Born of
Bronze.” The book was born
from Mayer’s fascination with
the numerous sculptures around
the Newtown campus.

Mayer and her art history students
discovered that Stella
Elkins Tyler (the woman who the
Temple University Tyler School
of Art is named after) created
these bronze sculptures. While
working on research in the
Newtown campus’s library her
students discovered multiple
books which contained actual
notes written by Tyler.

The U.S. Professors of the Year
program is sponsored by CASE
(Council for Advancement and
Support of Education) and the
Carnegie Foundation for the
Advancement of Teaching.
The program is the only
nationwide program to reward
greatness in teaching on an
undergraduate level.