The College of Biological Sciences recognized high school teacher Stephanie Harberts with the 2021 Sarah L. Tilman Memorial Science Teacher Award at its annual dinner April 14, 2022. First-year students to nominate teachers who inspired them and helped them achieve. Recipients are selected by a faculty committee.
The award was named in honor of Sarah Tilman, a young, passionate and enthusiastic science teacher who passed away unexpectedly in 2009. She had incredible mentors including her dad, University of Minnesota Regents Professor David Tilman, and her mom, Cathie Tilman.
Harberts, a teacher at East Ridge High School in Woodbury, was nominated by former student, Jason Chang. In his nomination, Chang said:
Mrs. Harberts deserves recognition because she was an excellent teacher who was kind, understanding, patient, and knowledgeable. During her lectures, she was always happy to slow down and answer questions about the material or help re-explain it when students were confused, or entertain our crazy questions and dive into more in-depth topics that students were interested in. She talked about each topic with so much passion and in a way that was interesting, which helped me to realize my love for biology.