Dr. Schutzenhofer Honored for Excellence in Teaching
An interactive and enthusiastic instructor who provides individualized attention to
each student is McKendree’s 2021 recipient of the Emerson Excellence in Teaching Award.
Dr. Michele “Mickey” Schutzenhofer ’03, professor of biology, was among more than 80 St. Louis-area educators who were honored
for their outstanding contribution to the teaching profession.
A native of Staunton, Ill., Mickey has been serving as a professor of biology at McKendree
since 2007. As Provost Fellow, she works on coordinating professional development
activities for faculty. She is also a former chairperson of the Division of Science and Mathematics from 2014 to 2020 and received the 2016 United Methodist Church Exemplary Teaching
Award.
“She is extremely supportive, level-headed, compassionate, inquisitive, self-driven,
trustworthy, reliable and, most importantly, humble,” said Dr. Alan Alewine, associate
provost. “In her upper level courses, she recruits students to work on research projects
with her, and they gleefully do so. While instructing them about the research process,
she instills in them a sense of ownership and responsibility.”
Mickey is also very involved in her research, particularly in documenting bee communities
on rare hilltop prairies along the bluff corridor in Illinois. Her work has allowed
her to provide authentic research experiences to several students, one of whom is
now in a graduate program researching bees.
