My Journey from Teaching to Learning Excellence

I was not surprised by Dr. Forrester's receiving the National Carl Norden–Pfizer Distinguished Teacher Award. At that time she had already been honored with an astonishing 17 college teaching awards, together with Virginia Tech's prestigious William E. Wine Award for Excellence in Teaching and induction into the university's exclusive Academy of Teaching Excellence. This is the kind of accomplishment to which many of us aspire but which precious few will achieve. The essence of Dr. Forrester's success is the notion that the student always comes first. She puts herself in the student's place, never forgetting what it is like to be subjected to the overwhelming burden of the traditional culture of detailed, didactic “coverage.” Dr. Forrester is a staunch advocate of an active/interactive, case-based clinical experience in which major concepts are more important than minutiae and technology is a catalyst for the learning process. Continual quality improvement is her motto. Dr. Forrester is an inspiring model of all that is good in veterinary medical education today. And the opportunity to write a prefatory note such as this is one of the joys of being an academic administrator.     –Peter Eyre, Former Dean (1985–2003), Virginia–Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine