Spollen, Hadden Receive Chancellor’s Teaching Awards
| John Spollen, M.D., and Kristie Hadden, Ph.D., were recognized May 18 during the UAMS Commencement exercises as the recipients of the Chancellor’s Teaching Awards, a program established in 2004 to recognize excellence in teaching among UAMS faculty.
John Spollen, M.D., received the Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence.
“John and Kristie represent the very best of UAMS,” said Chancellor Cam Patterson, M.D., MBA. “Thousands of UAMS students have benefitted from their hard work and dedication.”
Hadden was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Society and Health Education Excellence. The award recognizes the design and implementation of courses or activities that advance the topics of society and health. It can be through areas of cultural awareness, health care economics, health equity, health literacy, health systems, interprofessional education, collaborative practice, public and population health, patient- and family-centered care or educational scholarship.
Hadden joined UAMS in 2012 and is an associate professor in the College of Medicine’s Department of Medical Humanities and Bioethics. She also holds secondary appointments in the four other colleges and the Graduate School, a rare feat. She is the director of the UAMS Center for Health Literacy, a multi-disciplinary home for research, consultation and practice on the subject that has garnered national awards for its work. In seven years, she has taught health literacy to more than 2,000 UAMS students through interprofessional education exposure workshops and guest lectures.
In 2016, Hadden and the center received a four-year, $2.9 million National Institutes of Health grant to test the effectiveness of health literacy-informed diabetes education at UAMS regional campuses. She previously received a Society of Public Health Educators award and the UAMS Graduate School Achievement Award.
Spollen was the recipient of the Award for Teaching Excellence. It 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.
Spollen is a professor and vice chair for education in the College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry. Over more than two decades at UAMS, he has led curriculum and other program improvements that contributed to improved test scores for medical students. He developed the curriculum for use on the UAMS Northwest Regional Campus.
He has twice received the Chancellor’s Award for Education (2007, 2009) and has been the recipient of the Red or Gold Sash teaching award in the college for 11 consecutive years. He’s also been named the best resident teacher in the department four times, received the college’s Educational Innovation Award (2006) and its Master Teacher Award (2012).