The College of Science congratulates Mr. Marc Grether of UNT Mathematics for receiving the 2023 DSI CLEAR Outstanding Online Teacher & Course in Coursera Award from the UNT Foundation and Faculty Success. This award recognizes excellence in the design of online courses and the facilitation of the instructional experience using educational technology. The recipient of this award receives the distinction of being recognized that their online course has been deemed outstanding based on nationally recognized standards for excellence in online course design.

"I'm excited to hear about winning the award," said Mr. Grether. "I worked with a great team at DSI-CLEAR to get this done, especially Kathleen Harris, and received invaluable help from my colleague Mary Ann Barber. I work hard to design my courses to work well for students. I've found a key to the student experience online is to keep the interaction with the platform as simple as possible to allow students to focus on interacting with the content instead of fighting the system."

Mr. Grether joined the Mathematics Department in 2001. In 2009, he became the first Faculty member of the Core Academy, then re-joined the Mathematics department in 2013. He was promoted to Principal Lecturer in 2018 and conveniently taught his first class online in Spring 2019 - just long enough before 2020 to get some of the kinks to teaching online worked out.

"Mr. Grether is highly respected in our Department of Mathematics for the multiple innovations that he has introduced over the years to the classes that he teaches and for the mentorship that he provides to colleagues," said interim College of Science Dean Quintanilla. "It's no surprise that he carried this same pursuit of excellence to the university's partnership with Coursera. We are delighted that his excellence in instruction has been recognized with this award."

Mr. Grether will be honored at UNT's Salute to Faculty Excellence event taking place on April 23, 2023. This event is hosted each spring by Faculty Success and the UNT Foundation. It is just one of the many ways UNT honors the dedicated faculty members whose innovative research, pedagogy, and service continue our university's tradition of prestige. For more information about the Faculty Excellence Awards and the 2023 winners, please visit https://vpaa.unt.edu/fs/recognition/SFE-award-winners23