Credit: IWU Website
The Physics Department at Illinois Wesleyan University earned the Improving Undergraduate Physics Education Award from the American Physical Society (APS).
The award recognized the work of the IWU Physics Department including the “continuing success of recruiting a high number of physics majors, the research opportunities provided by the faculty, the remarkable commitment to curricular development and strong and sustained efforts to increase diversity of majors,” APS said.
APS called IWU’s Physics Department “ a role model for other liberal arts colleges.”
Chair of Physics Narendra Jaggi and Physics professor Gabe Spalding were also recognized by the American Association of Physics Teachers in October.
“We celebrate all of the different ways to do physics: experimental, theoretical and computational,” said Narendra Jaggi, professor and chair of the Physics Department. “The bottom line is this: To us, welcoming and honoring all of our physics students is a high priority.”
The IWU Physics Department also offers concentrations in optics and photonics, and in quantum information science engineering (QISE).
“We as a department work hard to see all of our students, regardless of their motivations to study physics, regardless of their previous background in physics,” said Jaggi. “We try to make them feel that they belong in the department.”