Recognized as a professor who excels in communication with his students, Dr. Erik Hillskemper has been chosen by students at William Woods University (WWU) as this year’s distinguished professor at WWU.
Hillskemper, associate professor of English, received the 2021 Louis D. Beaumont Dad’s Association Distinguished Professor of the Year Award as part of the University’s year-end academic honors. The award carries an honorarium and is presented annually to a faculty member who has displayed an outstanding dedication to teaching. Recipients of the award are nominated and chosen by students.
One student that nominated Hillskemper for the award commented that “he is very understanding of our needs and teaches in a way that is conducive to our individual learning and growth.
Hillskemper was also praised by a student who “involves all of his students and their opinions into our learning plans so that essays are graded on a fair scale and all of our writing topics are either our own topic choice or a variety of topics that we can choose and vote on.” Another added that Dr. Hillskemper “always makes his classes feel like a place for growth.”
A member of the William Woods faculty since 2008, Dr. Hillskemper served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland, from 2004 through 2007. He received his Ph.D. in English from the University of Aberdeen, and his Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in English from California State University-Chico. He currently teaches English Composition, English Literature, History of the English Language, Shakespeare and World Masterpieces at WWU.
