ESSI AUGUSTE VIRTANEN | Editor-in-Chief

Anne Ross-Weldy, a nonprofit administration professor, was selected as the recipient of the adjunct instructor of the year award in August, and whether you’re in her classroom or sitting across from her, her passion for teaching is evident and radiating.

“I’ve gotten to connect to the students, their causes, their passions beyond just the teaching framework, which is so thrilling,” Ross-Weldy said.

According to the Lindenwood website, the award is granted for a part-time or adjunct instructor who “in the judgement of Lindenwood colleagues, demonstrates the best combination of pedagogical innovation, student-centeredness, and effectiveness as a classroom teacher during the present and prior academic years.”

“I knew I had been nominated, but there’s so many amazing peers and certainly my department, the school of business, I mean I share this award with them,” Ross-Weldy said. “This is certainly a representation of what we all do.”

Ross-Weldy has worked in various focus areas during her career including volunteer management, fundraising, advocacy, different types of community development, human resources and career services.

“I get to wear a lot of different hats, which I enjoy,” she said. “I don’t want to stay in one particular segment too long, keeps it interesting. I love it.”

She received her master’s degree in nonprofit administration from Lindenwood in 2009 and has been an adjunct professor here the past five years.

“It’s just been an honor,” she said. “It’s such a joy to teach our students.”

She said her teaching technique is based very much in “service learning,” which includes service projects, simulations and case studies that helps students apply their knowledge to their work.

“I think that it’s speaking to them,” she said. “And as a result, somehow I made into this nomination process, and so for me, it’s a reflection how the students have taken that and run with it.”

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“She truly seeks to enhance her students’ understandings of higher education as well as their lives.” – former student Courtney McNeal [/perfectpullquote]
Nonprofit Administration Department Chair Julie Turner recommended Ross-Weldy for the award. She wrote in her recommendation letter that Ross-Weldy “is constantly meeting with current and prospective students outside the classroom environment to encourage their personal growth and development, and views this as an extension as her role as an adjunct instructor.”

Ross-Weldy’s former student Courtney McNeal agreed.

“She truly seeks to enhance her students’ understandings of higher education as well as their lives,” McNeal said.

Ross-Weldy said ultimately her students are her inspiration.

“They are committed to changing the world through leadership and service,” she said. “So when I see them contribute to their causes and grow in demonstration in their service and the course is expanding that potential, or in their coursework in their degree, it’s throwing for me to see that unfold.”