Amy Froelich tries to learn each of her student’s names by the end of September — even in classes with more than 100 students.

In just four years of teaching, that dedication to her students has paid off.

Froelich, assistant professor of statistics, was honored with the ISU Foundation Award for Early Achievement in Teaching at the President’s Convocation last week. The award recognizes a tenured or tenure-track faculty member who has demonstrated outstanding teaching performance unusually early in his or her professional career.

“The main thing that I try to do while teaching is to follow the KISS method — Keep It Simple, Stupid,” Froelich said. “I don’t assume too much about my students’ prior knowledge to the course. You keep students with you by starting at the beginning and taking them step-by-step through material. I also try to learn all my students’ names within the first month; it gives students a feeling of belonging to a class and builds a connection with them.”

Daniel Saftig, president of the ISU Foundation, spoke about Froelich at the convocation.

“She has one of the highest approval ratings of any faculty member in statistics, which is quite an accomplishment given the fact that she helps coordinate and teaches an introductory course, with many students not yet sure statistics is right for them,” he said at the convocation.

Saftig said a senior faculty member in statistics wrote, “With her energy and high standards, she will continue to have a positive impact on the teaching and learning of students at Iowa State University.”

Mack Shelley, professor of statistics, said Froelich scores noticeably higher on Government of the Student Body course evaluations for her upper- and lower-level statistics courses than other faculty members. For advanced courses, while other faculty score above average, she frequently scores a point higher than them on the five-point scale.

“She makes really tough material understandable,” Shelley said.

“She has a really good rapport with students and almost perfect attendance. She does things on a level students can appreciate — more conversational than a lecture.”

Shelley said one student wrote on his evaluation that Froelich is “without question one of the most organized, caring and hardworking professors I’ve ever met.”

“She has a strong commitment to helping students succeed,” Shelley said. “She helps them learn how to learn and makes it as much fun as you can.”

Froelich said she keeps her Web site up to date and has notes online for students to print out.

“I try to have a lot of study guide materials and to provide my students with as much material to help them succeed as possible,” Froelich said.

“I want to change students’ perception of statistics. I want them to say someday, ‘Oh, statistics; yeah, I took that. It was really interesting.'”