Two Northern Michigan University professors were honored at the annual Celebration of Excellence in Teaching and Scholarship. Paul Truckey of the communication and performance studies department received the excellence in teaching award. Nancy Maas of nursing received the technology innovation award. 

Truckey joined the NMU faculty in 2003. He has directed several NMU theater productions and taught a broad range of classes, including acting, the theater experience, modern drama and Shakespeare’s plays. He has guided NMU students on study-abroad trips to London and Scotland and led the New York City field studies experience five times. Truckey was presented the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Service Award for the State of Michigan. As an actor, he was in the Broadway and national touring companies of Les Miserables. His television credits include The Rosie O’Donnell Show, The Today Show and the 1998 NBA All-Star Game Halftime show. He earned his MFA in musical theater performance from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“I am incredibly humbled and honored to receive [the excellence in teaching award] and now be included on a list of such illustrious former recipients,” said Truckey. “All who have won this award before me share the same values in education, the student-first approach.”

Maas is a board-certified family nurse practitioner and a nationally certified nurse educator. She has had a longtime interest in the use of high-fidelity simulation in healthcare education. While earning her master’s, she developed a project focusing on the use of human patient simulators in practical nursing education for NMU’s LPN program and was one of only 20 students accepted into the esteemed National League for Nursing Simulation Leadership Program. In 2011, Maas presented an Introduction to Simulation to Michigan Legislators for Project Medical Education, a collaborative project raising awareness about the education process and use of simulation. She earned her BSN at Michigan State University and her MSN at NMU.

“I strive to increase use of technology in my courses on a regular basis,” Maas said. “This award encourages me to continue in this effort. It also energized me in working to increase the use of simulation within the curriculum of the NMU BSN program as simulation education coordinator. Our latest additions have been the incorporation of an electronic medical record program and video recording for use in our simulation lab.”