For release
March 7, 2001

Citadel professor awarded Carnegie fellowship

          Citadel biology professor, Capt. Alix Darden was one of thirty faculty members selected nationwide to receive the distinguished Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) Pew National Fellowship for Carnegie Scholars. As a Carnegie Scholar she will serve a one-year term, investigating and documenting work on issues in the teaching and learning of genetics and microbiology.

          Darden has been on faculty at The Citadel since 1995. As a professor and a scientist, Dardens goal is not simply to teach but to give students the hands-on opportunity to use the problem-solving, research, and technical skills they have learned in class. In molecular genetics, the goal is to clone a gene, and in microbiology, the goal is to separate and identify unknown bacteria. In an age when published texts are almost out of date by the time they come off the press, students in Alix Dardens class are conducting actual cutting-edge research which will give them the marketable skills they need to succeed after they graduate.

          "My role," Darden says, "is not to sit and recite a textbook, but to inspire them and teach them techniques they can use. The Carnegie Scholars Program provides me with resources to evaluate the effectiveness of what I do in the classroomwhich is what the scholarship of teaching and learning is all about."

          The Carnegie Scholars program is one component of CASTL and is part of a $6 million, five-year effort funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and The Carnegie Foundation. The program is open to faculty from all sectors of higher education. Of the four years the program has been in existence, including this year's selection, Darden is the first faculty member from a college in S.C.

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