2005 Ted Mills Award for Outstanding Faculty Environmental Teaching

Sarah Kimball’s entrance into the realm of teaching environmental science was not traditional.  While working as a research specialist and laboratory manager, she assisted in many research projects and graduate classes in the Water Quality Research Laboratory dealing with what is now known as environmental forensics.  Although there was usually no teaching title associated with her portion of those classes, students were taught sample gathering, preparation, and analytical techniques as well as quality control, quality assurance, and data analysis.  Many of those students are now in responsible environmental positions in educational institutions and state and federal agencies.  Sarah taught the very first offering of ENVR 5300 and has continued teaching it for six years.  She also developed and taught the ENVR 5400 class. Several semesters her classes have been totally on-line.  Sarah says she enjoys working with students in her classes, on individual projects in other classes, as an advisor to student clubs, and by serving on graduate student committees.  With the OSU Cooperative Extension Service, much of Sarah's non-formal teaching has been to groups all over the state such as County Commissioners, Home and Community Educators, Environmental Enforcement Officers, community action groups, tribal environmental officers, and waste management professionals.