UAMS Chancellor’s Teaching Award Presented to Tiffany Huitt, Ph.D., in College of Health Professions

By Spencer Watson

Huitt is director of research and an associate professor in the Department of Physician Assistant Studies in the UAMS College of Health Professions.

“Dr. Huitt is a model of excellence in education and scholarship as a mentor and master teacher,” said Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA. “Her evaluations, both from students and colleagues, speak for themselves in how highly they speak of her.”

The award was established in 2004 to recognize outstanding teaching among UAMS faculty. The Teaching Excellence Award recognizes direct teaching, mentoring or educational scholarship between a faculty member and any learner. It can be in all settings, including the classroom, online, clinic or laboratory.

The award is traditionally presented annually at commencement, but the ceremony was canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Huitt joined UAMS in 2013 as an adjunct assistant professor while the physician assistant program was under development and became full time in 2015, contributing to the program’s successful accreditation in 2016. She was appointed the program’s first associate program director in 2017.

“Dr. Huitt is a gifted teacher and her course evaluations are continuously nothing short of exceptional. Having been a medical illustrator, her ability to teach gross anatomy is truly unmatched,” said Susan Long, Ed.D., dean of the College of Health Professions, who cited a student evaluation describing Huitt’s mastery of the topic “like a walking textbook.”

Long also praised Huitt as an expert on team-based learning.

“She mentors faculty in the development and implementation of team-based learning and is recognized as a master teacher in this area by her professional peers and by her students. From her work with team-based learning, she has produced 19 scholarly works to date.”

Huitt was awarded the UAMS Physician Assistant Faculty of the Year Award in 2018 and received the 2017 College of Health Professions Excellence in Teaching Award.

UAMS is the state’s only health sciences university, with colleges of Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions and Public Health; a graduate school; a hospital; a main campus in Little Rock; a Northwest Arkansas regional campus in Fayetteville; a statewide network of regional campuses; and eight institutes: the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, Jackson T. Stephens Spine & Neurosciences Institute, Harvey & Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Psychiatric Research Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging, Translational Research Institute, Institute for Digital Health & Innovation and the Institute for Community Health Innovation. UAMS includes UAMS Health, a statewide health system that encompasses all of UAMS’ clinical enterprise. UAMS is the only adult Level 1 trauma center in the state. UAMS has 3,275 students, 890 medical residents and fellows, and five dental residents. It is the state’s largest public employer with more than 12,000 employees, including 1,200 physicians who provide care to patients at UAMS, its regional campuses, Arkansas Children’s, the VA Medical Center and Baptist Health. Visit www.uams.edu or uamshealth.com. Find us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube or Instagram.

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