VIDEO: UK Architecture Professor Passes on Passion for Service to His Students

LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 21, 2018) — Bruce A. Swetnam, who teaches in the University of Kentucky College of Design, views teaching as a way to serve others. 

It's clear that this outlook isn't lost on his architecture students. In fact, his commitment to demonstrating the importance of helping others is one of the reasons why they nominated Swetnam for a 2018 Great Teacher Award.

And, it’s no secret why Swetnam was recently named associate dean for students in the College of Design. The devotion created in his students is quite obvious. Graduate student Kathryn Sanders recognizes Swetnam’s “extensive experience and knowledge as a practicing architect,” but it was the way he shares that knowledge and experience that impresses Sanders. He “encourages hands-on learning,” Sanders said. To instruct students on the acoustic properties of buildings, Swetnam took his class to UK's Singletary Center for the Arts to test sound levels of different noises with decibel meters. “He dedicates an abundance of his time and resources to his students and any projects they need help with,” she said. For example, Sanders explained, he facilitated a studio for students interested in humanitarian architecture to work on one of his own projects, designing an expansion of a Haitian orphanage. “He used his Kentuckian Masonry Institute Endowment,” she said, “to create the opportunity for the students to travel to the site and understand the project on a more complex level.”

Watch the video above to discover why Swetnam says he doesn't think of his job as "work," even after decades of teaching.

Award recipients were honored at the UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award Recognition Dinner in late January at the Hyatt Regency in Lexington. They were recognized during the Vanderbilt University vs. Kentucky men’s basketball game later that evening as well.

The Great Teacher Award, started in 1961, is the longest-running University of Kentucky award recognizing teaching. In order to receive the award, educators must first be nominated by a student. The UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award Committee, in cooperation with the student organization Omicron Delta Kappa, then makes the final selections. Recipients receive an engraved plaque and monetary reward.

The UK Alumni Association is a membership supported organization committed to fostering lifelong engagement among alumni, friends, the association and the university. For more information about the UK Alumni Association or to become a member, visit www.ukalumni.net or call 1-800-269-2586.