A Penn State Berks professor has been named one of the country’s Outstanding Baccalaureate College Professors of the Year.

Laurie Grobman is a professor of English and women’s studies at the commonwealth campus, and now nationally recognized for her tutelage. Grobman was one of four recipients of the national award, which is sponsored by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement and Support of Education. Additionally, 30 professors were named state Professors of the Year.

The awards, which were created in 1981, acknowledge the dedication that its recipients have for their undergraduate students. Nearly 400 educators were nominated. According to an official release, Grobman received the award due to “her work as a teacher-scholar, and her commitment to issues of equality and fairness, which have led her to integrate service learning into her writing and literature classes.”

“Dr. Grobman inspires, encourages, and deeply cares about her students,” said former student Elizabeth Kemmerer, according to the press release. “She demands the excellence we as students should all desire, and it is an honor to not only be present for her acceptance of this prestigious award but also to be the one to introduce her.”

Grobman’s students participate in community-based researched projects in the Berks area, which are specifically focused on historically overlooked groups. Notably, Grobman and her students have worked with the African-American community near Berks. They worked to publish “Woven with Words: A Collection of African American History in Berks County, Pennsylvania” through the NAACP branch in Reading, PA.

Since then, Grobman and her students have created publications focused on the local Jewish and Hispanic and Latino communities.

This isn’t the first time Laurie Grobman has received an award for her excellence in education. Grobman was the recipient of the Penn State University President’s Award for Excellence in Academic Integration in 2012. She was the first recipient of this award from a commonwealth campus.