AHERN
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A Union County resident has been honored as one of The Ohio State University’s best.
Bob Ahern, of Marysville, was named a 2018 winner of OSU’s President and Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Lecturer.
“It is the highlight of a career for people who teach at the university,” said Ahern, adding that it is “a lifetime award.”
In fact, it is a once in a lifetime award for those who earn it, as recipients are eligible only once. The award is open to all lecturers, senior lecturers and other auxiliary faculty who have taught undergraduate, or graduate/professional courses at the university in the last three years. Recipients are recognized with a $5,000 honorarium made possible by the Office of Academic Affairs.
Ahern, who teaches mental health therapy to masters and doctoral level students, was one of six, of the schools more than 3,500 faculty members eligible for the award to be honored.
Officials said Ahern is among the University’s College of Social Work’s “most sought after lecturers and mentors.” He is just the third teacher from the college to receive the award.
“A skilled teacher and clinician, Ahern goes above and beyond to make himself available for his students, regularly providing one-on-one career guidance and course suggestions,” according to the announcement.
Judges noted that Ahern’s dedication to students is reflected in exemplary evaluation scores and glowing testimonials. They cited reviews calling him “amazing” and “an excellent instructor” to “the best professor.”
The university receives hundreds of student submitted applications, due nearly a year before the award is announced. They are reviewed by a committee, which whittles the list to a group of finalists. From there, the committee surveys students and administrators from the teacher’s last three years.
“It is very rigorous and they take it very seriously,” Ahern said.
In their evaluation, officials said Ahern employs a variety of strategies, including role plays, storytelling, Tai Chi, case studies, skill demonstrations of therapeutic techniques or interventions, movie clips, podcasts and the Socratic method to develop critical thinking and better connect with students with different learning styles and interests to engage students in the learning process.
“Through these varied approaches, Ahern helps his students hone self-awareness of the internal processes critical to effective therapeutic engagement with clients,” university officials said.
Ahern’s dedication to teaching has made him a four-time winner of the college’s Community Lecturer of the Year Award.
He teaches three classes a semester, including Engaging and Entering the Profession, Crisis Intervention and Trauma Treatment, Strengths-Based Clinical Social Work with Individual Adults, and Motivational Interviewing. He also teaches several 5000-level courses including Loss and Grief: A Social Work Practice Perspective, and Integrative Body-Mind-Spirit Approaches to Assessment and Treatment.
Ahern said that most of his classes are traditional, but he also teaches an on-line class.
“The on-line thing is new to me, but I know it is the future, so I have to be adaptive,” Ahern said.
He said he is able to be a good teacher because he had good teachers.
“If I had a bunch of teachers who didn’t engage me, I would have been taught a way to teach that didn’t engage students,” Ahern said. “In some way, I am just standing on the shoulders of giants.”
Ahern earned his Bachelors of Arts at Florida State University, his Masters of Divinity from Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and his master’s and Ph.D. at The Ohio State University.
In addition to teaching at the university, Ahern serves as the chief of staff for Juvenile Probate Court Judge Charlotte Coleman Eufinger, administering the family drug court as well as the juvenile drug court.
He said he appreciates the position because he is very involved and gets to, “make a real difference in people’s lives, people with drug and alcohol problems and with mental health problems.”
Ahern was honored at an The Ohio State University football game during the 2018 season. He said that when he accepted the award from President Dr. Michael Drake, he said the award is not about him, but about the students. He joked that he can be clumsy and “my worry was falling down in front of 108,000 people.”