CSC News

Heckman 2018-2019 Winner of CSC Person of Exceptional Performance Award

The NC State Department of Computer Science is pleased to present the 2018-2019 “Person of Exceptional Performance” or PEP Award to Dr. Sarah Heckman, Director of Undergraduate Programs and Teaching Associate Professor.

A three-time graduate of the department (BS CSC ‘04, MS CSC ‘05, PhD CSC ‘09), Heckman was the first teaching-track faculty hired in Computer Science at NC State.  And what an incredible teacher she is, making an indelible mark on our students every day.  Heckman was recognized with the NC State University Outstanding Teacher Award and the Alumni Association Outstanding Teacher Award in 2015.  She is a member of the Academy of Outstanding Teachers at NC State, and in 2017 was presented with an NC State Computer Science Outstanding Young Alumni Award.

In 2018, she was named Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Professor. Despite her role as a “Teaching Professor”, she has still been very active in research, such as working with colleagues at Duke and UNC to create a scalable, effective, and evidence-based peer teacher training program designed to increase undergraduate retention and diversity in introductory programming courses.  And, she continues to work on funded projects to improve the effectiveness of our undergraduate curriculum. More recently, Heckman has been the driving force behind our Undergrad Research effort, and we've seen a steady increase in number of students participating in that program since its launch.

This year, she has not only made a smooth transition into the Director of Undergraduate Program position, she took the lead in orchestrating the launch of our two new undergrad tracks in security and entrepreneurship.

For her passion, leadership and commitment to making this department the best it can possibly be, the department proudly recognizes Dr. Sarah Heckman as our 2018-19 Person of Exceptional Performance Award winner.

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