Colmenares Recieves Teaching Award

Leticia Colmenares, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Chemistry recently won the 2011 Francis Davis Award for Excellence in Teaching, recognizing her dedication to teaching, demonstrating excellence as a teacher, and attention to undergraduate students.

Leticia “Letty” Colmenares, Ph.D., is a master teacher who is extraordinarily committed to helping her students learn chemistry. She applies her skills and talents in teaching chemistry at many levels: to undergraduate non-majors, to students requiring chemistry prior to entering science professions, and to the community through chemistry forums. Her students appreciate the “care and empathy” she possesses to help them understand difficult material and connect chemistry in their everyday life.  She is not only expert at using a variety of teaching tools, she moves with ease from one to the other, and engages students in problem-solving. 

Letty coordinates peer tutoring for students outside regular class hours and has coordinated the Community Forum in Chemistry since 2006, to enhance learning in chemistry for both students and the community, and to serve as a bridge between the classroom and the real world. 

One student who returned to school after a long absence and who is now a Ph.D. candidate at the UH Cancer Center remarked, “Coming back to school after 20 years, I was apprehensive about taking chemistry. I quickly found that Dr. Colmenares’ teaching style, one that is both challenging and supporting, enabled me to develop both the study skills and confidence to tackle the subject.”