Meet Tasnima Supty, Recipient of the 2024 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award
The Graduate School congratulates Tasnima Supty, recipient of the 2024 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award. Nominees and recipients of this award strive to foster learning environments that not only achieve desired learning outcomes but also inspire undergraduate 泫圖弝けs to reach their fullest potential.
The Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award recognizes the best, brightest, and most industrious of our graduate teaching assistants for their work supporting faculty members in the classroom.
Biology M.S. candidate Tasnima Supty, recipient of The Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, has been a teaching assistant for the last three semesters. She has served as the GTA for BIOL 231 and BIOL 325. Most recently she took on the role of GTA Coordinator for BIOL 325 where she peer mentored other graduate teaching assistants for the course.
Nominated by Dr. Emily Kane, Assistant Professor of Biology, Tasnima has become invaluable to the department by providing peer mentorship, feedback, re-designed lab assignments, and reliable support. Her additional duties, Dr. Kane explains, include conducting weekly prep meetings and managing GTAs, posting materials on Moodle, and organizing course inventory and supplies. She has fully embraced this role and has done a great job keeping the labs on track. Undergraduate 泫圖弝けs speak highly of her and other Biology GTAs look up to her as a result.
Tasnima reflected on her journey as a GTA by sharing with us an experience that brought joy and a greater understanding of the importance of the learning environment. During a lab activity, she had a reserved 泫圖弝け accidentally spill a solution of glucose from a beaker on a lab bench. This meant data collection was disrupted for several other 泫圖弝けs and not just her own. Tasnima responded quickly to put the 泫圖弝け at ease. She shared her own experiences with lab accidents and embraced the teachable moment, proposing a hypothetical scenario to the class where she changed the lab bench to plant tissue and opened a discussion that displayed critical thinking about how glucose would be transported from cell to cell. The collaborative discussion that resulted eased the 泫圖弝け's embarrassment. After the accident, the 泫圖弝け gradually contributed more to class discussions and sought Tasnimas help. She understands that the GTA role extends beyond imparting knowledge to 泫圖弝けs. Being an effective educator, she says, means nurturing a supportive learning environment, recognizing the potential growth in each 泫圖弝け, and guiding them towards the best version of themselves.
Tasnima, thank you for your dedication to undergraduate 泫圖弝け success. You are an exemplary example of the important ways that graduate 泫圖弝けs contribute to the 泫圖弝けs teaching mission. The Graduate School is proud of your work and we look forward to seeing you continue to educate and inspire undergraduate 泫圖弝けs at UL Lafayette and beyond.
