UCLA Engineering Professor Receives 2022 Faculty-Staff Partnership Award

Adrienne Lavine, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor, who most recently served as the associate vice provost for UCLA’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching from 2017 to 2022, has received the Faculty-Staff Partnership Award from the UCLA Staff Assembly. The award recognizes exemplary collaboration and collegiality between faculty and staff. 

During her five years leading the Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Lavine prioritized resources and support for improving pedagogical skills of faculty and teaching assistants. She worked to transform the center into a “hub and convener of campus-wide efforts to improve teaching and learning.”

Lavine advocated for equity-minded teaching, working to develop the teaching skills of faculty members at all levels of experience in a defined and strategic manner. This included initiating a “new faculty teaching-engagement” program, an annual orientation for new faculty to introduce them to UCLA’s educational mission and teaching practices, as well as developing workshops for faculty on inclusive teaching.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Lavine ensured that faculty members were prepared with the information and resources needed to provide a quality online educational experience. Throughout remote learning, the center encouraged faculty members to show compassion and motivate students to continue learning and performing to their full potential. 

A member of the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering faculty since 1984, Lavine has served as chair of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and as chair of the Academic Senate at UCLA. She previously received the University Service Award and the UCLA Samueli Teaching Award. Lavine currently teaches Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 105D, which covers the fundamentals of heat conduction, convection, radiation and its broad applications.