NOVA English Professor Wins Outstanding Faculty Award

Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) English professor Robert Bausch is one of 12 faculty members from Virginia to receive the 2013 Outstanding Faculty Award.

The award, which is administered by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia and sponsored by Dominion, is the “highest honor bestowed upon faculty in the Commonwealth of Virginia” and “recognizes excellence in teaching, research, knowledge integration, and public service,” according to a news release from NOVA.

“On behalf of the College, we would like to express our congratulations to Professor Bausch for being selected as a recipient of this prestigious award,” said NOVA President Dr. Robert G. Templin Jr. in the news release. “According to Bob, he would not have a college degree — in fact he would not have had the life he has, or done the work he’s done — if not for NOVA.  His strong commitment to teaching, while working on his own professional literary career, is evident through the many students he’s inspired, some of whom have gone on to become successful writers themselves.” 

Bausch was a student at the NOVA Annandale campus in 1970 before he transferred to George Mason University where he earned a bachelors and two masters degrees. For the last 38 years, he’s taught English composition, literature and creative writing at the NOVA Woodbridge campus.

“I enjoy teaching because I believe so whole heartedly in education, and in a student’s ability to find out what his or her passion is,” Bausch said in the news release. “I want to do the same for my students that NOVA and my teachers in the early seventies did for me: They helped me discover what I needed to do in life that would be rewarding and fulfilling. I’ve taught at a lot of places, but I keep coming back to NOVA because of what it means to me.”

Bausch was recognized with 11 other award recipients at a ceremony in Richmond last week. He is also the 11th NOVA faculty member to receive the Virginia Outstanding Faculty Award.