Communication Department faculty Barbara Penington received UW-Whitewater’s highest teaching honor, the W.P. Roseman Excellence in Teaching Award. The reason for this is clear - Barbara describes herself as a "partner in learning” and she and her students have mutual respect for one another as they share in the learning process. Barbara pushes her students out of their comfort zones and provides them with the necessary encouragement to help them reach their full potential.

Barbara will head to Germany in the spring of 2008 to conduct research on listening in children. Through observations in classrooms and after school activities, she hopes to better understand how a child’s ability to listen affects how they learn. She plans to use this research and work with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to help children succeed in learning both here and across the globe.