Newsletter of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University
Hill received the presidential award from Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin during May 14 commencement ceremonies at Reed Arena. The innovative excellence award was presented a month earlier at the 22nd International Conference on College Teaching and Learning in Jacksonville, Fla. The conference drew more than 800 faculty from colleges and universities in 20 different countries.
Hill first learned of the Texas A&M teaching honor during an April 29 surprise reception at the College of Architecture’s Wright Gallery.
"Your extraordinary service to students is admired by those you have taught as well as your colleagues in the university," said Jorge Vanegas, dean of the college, reading a letter to Hill from Loftin. "It is obvious, in reading the letters from your students, that your classes are taught with enthusiasm and passion."
“Rodney Hill emerges as one of the most remarkable educators I have met in my life,” added Vanegas. “He combines boundless passion, energy and selfless dedication to his students with a brilliant intellect, an infectious charm and a genuine sense of care.”
The Presidential Professor for Teaching Excellence Award, which comes with a $25,000 stipend, is reserved for educators who demonstrate both leadership and scholarship and who have been previously recognized for teaching excellence by peers, student groups and professional organizations. Recipients must demonstrate a lasting influence on students through mentoring or advising outside the classroom; have clearly communicated teaching goals and objectives; an understanding of existing scholarship, pedagogical and assessment methods appropriate to teaching goals; engage in a variety of teaching methods; and demonstrate an awareness of student diversity.
Though Hill’s other significant honors, a total of 26, are too numerous to list, a few of note include: the Texas Society of Architects Award for Outstanding Educational Contributions in Honor of Edward J. Romieniec (2000), Texas A&M’s Eppright Professorship in Undergraduate Teaching Excellence (2005), and the David Tanner Champion of Creativity Award (2006) from the American Creativity Association.
An award-winning architect, an expert in environmental psychology and a futurist, Hill, who joined the Texas A&M faculty in 1969, is also holder of the Harold L. Adams '61 Endowed Interdisciplinary Professorship in Architecture.
A creativity champion, some might say guru, Hill helped found in 2002 the Institute for Applied Creativity at Texas A&M, which promotes the study and application of creativity and innovative thinking across colleges and disciplines.
He’s had a lifelong fascination with the creative process, which he describes as “the ability to bring order out of chaos.” In the role as teacher and mentor (he doesn’t distinguish between the two), he employs self-discovery to spark the creative process.
Known as "Mr. Creativity" to the students and faculty at Texas A&M as well as within the surrounding community, Hill has offered an entry-level creativity course at Texas A&M for more than a decade. The popular course open to all majors is known to consistently reach its limit, 150 students, within the first hours of registration.
His academic interests include social and behavioral factors in architecture creativity and future studies. He is faculty advisor for the American Institute of Architecture Students, the American Creativity Association, the Venture Capital and Private Equity Club, the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and the Entrepreneur Club.
- Updated: July 12, 2010 -
