‘Great Teacher’ Emily Cunningham Models Patient Care and Student Success
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 20, 2020) — Six of the University of Kentucky’s passionate and accomplished educators were recently surprised by student nominators and the UK Alumni Association as 2020 Great Teacher Award recipients.
Dr. Emily Cunningham is one of this year’s Great Teacher recipients.
Cunningham is an associate professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology in the UK College of Medicine.
“I think the way that she interacts with patients is a template for how I can interact with patients in the future, and how she teaches is students is how I want to teach students,” said award nominator Alex Wade. “She’s a once-in-a-lifetime mentor, and I think very few people get to have the opportunity to be able to learn under someone that is so caring and competent and so willing to help in every aspect of life.”
To learn more about what makes Cunningham a “Great Teacher” and why resident Alex Wade nominated her, check out the video above.
The UK Alumni Association 2020 Great Teacher Award was recently bestowed upon six University of Kentucky educators. Initiated in 1961, UK’s Great Teacher Award is the longest-running UK 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 selection. Recipients receive an engraved plaque and stipend.
As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.
In 2022, UK was ranked by Forbes as one of the “Best Employers for New Grads” and named a “Diversity Champion” by INSIGHT into Diversity, a testament to our commitment to advance Kentucky and create a community of belonging for everyone. While our mission looks different in many ways than it did in 1865, the vision of service to our Commonwealth and the world remains the same. We are the University for Kentucky.