Professor Craig Kletzing received a 2007 President and Provost Award For Teaching Excellence. The award was created in 2003-04 as a university-wide recognition for faculty members who have demonstrated a sustained high level of teaching.

Craig Kletzing has taught in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences since 1996, and currently serves as associate chair and director of graduate studies for the Department of Physics and Astronomy. He received a UI Collegiate Teaching Award in 2006. Kletzing's colleagues recognize him as a progressive and innovative instructor who works actively to keep abreast of cutting edge teaching methods and theories, and uses them successfully in his own teaching of introductory physics.

Students appreciate both Kletzing's talent in the classroom -- where he is especially skilled at demonstrating difficult physical concepts -- and his commitment as a mentor. Extremely effective at incorporating undergraduate and graduate students into his research program (which involves building instruments that make scientific measurements during rocket flights), Kletzing teaches students, not just about physics, but also about how to succeed as practicing scientists.

In the process, students say, Kletzing's infects them with his enthusiasm for the subject matter, for the practice of science and for teaching, which serves them well because many go on to pursue advanced careers in physics and astronomy. Says one such student, "The experiences I received through . . . daily interactions [with Professor Kletzing] have been invaluable to my education as a scientist."