Marie Paretti, a member of Virginia Tech's Department of Engineering Education (EngE), is the 2008 recipient of the Sporn Award for Teaching in the College of Engineering.
When Paretti joined EngE in August of 2004, she remained as the Director of the Engineering Communications Program, a joint effort between Virginia Tech's Departments of Engineering Science and Mechanics (ESM) and Materials Science and Engineering (MSE). As director, she works with her staff to teach professional skills, including communication, collaboration, and global competence, to students in both programs. She also helps the MSE students develop professional portfolios to showcase their work.
One of her numerous nominators for the Sporn Award, Frederick Cook, a senior in ESM, said, "Dr. Paretti embodies Ut Prosim through her service to her students and her genuine caring and compassion for them and their education. Combined with her aptitude for teaching and communication, she is an asset to our department and to the College of Engineering."
Another student, Katie Clark, a senior in MSE, described Paretti's abilities to help "students obtain valuable professional skills by teaching everything from email etiquette to project management for senior design projects. The lessons learned in her classes are directly applicable to the students' everyday lives."
Paretti's selection for the Sporn Award was through a highly competitive process. The profiles of five finalists were submitted to the Student Engineers' Council (SEC). The SEC, acting on behalf of the entire engineering student body, then selected Paretti.