Congratulations to the 2024 Teaching Award Recipients

Monica Simal, Ph.D., associate professor of Spanish, is the recipient of the 2024 Innovation in Teaching Excellence Award. This annual award honors faculty members who have implemented innovative teaching approaches that enhance student learning and success. The Center for Teaching Excellence’s (CTE) Advisory Group administers the award. 

Dr. Simal, an expert in Latin American literature and cultures, has taught a variety of courses in the Department of World Languages and Cultures – ranging from Spanish as a Second Language to advanced literature classes focused on the Hispanic Caribbean. She also has taught courses in the Development of Western Civilization (DWC) and Latin American and Latina/o Studies programs and co-created the new Spanish for the Health Professions minor.  

Dr. Simal has been a member of the PC faculty since 2011. Her research interests focus on Cuban literary and film production, contemporary female Caribbean writers, and the intersection of literary studies, social sciences, and health sciences. Consequently, she has integrated hybrid teaching modalities into her instruction to foster local and international collaborations and to globalize the curriculum.

Recently, Dr. Simal led a three-week study abroad program in Puerto Rico, which immersed students fully in the language and culture. During this time, she conducted collaborative ethnographic research at a rural hospital and an urban health center in southwest Puerto Rico alongside Jessica Mulligan, Ph.D., professor of health sciences, and students from the health sciences, nursing, and biology programs. Building on this experience, Dr. Simal and her colleagues will analyze and compile their findings with student researchers to co-author a publication involving. Additionally, this experience will enable her to revise and enhance the content of the DWC colloquium course titled “Disease, Catastrophes, and Social and Artistic Mobilization in the Caribbean,” which she will co-teach for the second time in Spring 2025. 

Dr. Simal’s nominator describes her teaching as follows: Dr. Simal is an energetic and innovative teacher who is constantly reinventing her pedagogical approach and creating new classes and curriculum that showcase a truly interdisciplinary approach to the liberal arts and medical humanities. I can think of no better candidate for the award for innovative teaching. 

Congratulations to Dr. Simal on this prestigious award! 

Professor Edward Nelson, M.S., CPA, assistant professor of practice in accountancy, is the recipient of the 2024 Teaching Excellence by Visiting and Practitioner Faculty Award.  

At PC, his courses include sections of the two-course sequence of Intermediate Accounting and special topics courses focused on complex accounting topics and SEC regulations. He works closely with his accounting and PCSB colleagues to ensure students are well prepared for the job interview process, the rigors of the CPA exam, and the work-life challenges after PC.  

In his professional life away from PC, Professor Nelson works with the financial teams of early-stage venture-backed biotechnology and medical device companies in Cambridge, Mass. These companies research and develop future breakthrough solutions aimed at improving the healthcare system. He was previously a partner with Ernst & Young and has served companies in an advisory role for the past 35 years.  

Congratulations to Ed Nelson on this award!  

Professor Edward O’Donnell, MBA, CPA, adjunct professor of accountancy, is the recipient of the 2024 Recognition for Teaching Excellence by Adjunct Faculty Award. From 2014-2018 and from 2022 to the present, Professor O’Donnell has taught courses in financial and managerial accounting, business studies and finance major capstone courses, and an MBA course focused on financial management for corporations.  

A 1978 graduate of PC, Ned received his MBA from Boston University in 1981. During his 41-year business career, he worked for several companies, including PwC, before retiring as executive director of Brown Emergency Medicine.  

Congratulations to Ned O’Donnell on this award!