Dr. Tim Lintner, a USC Aiken professor in the School of Education, has received the prestigious Carolina Trustee Professorship Award.
Every year, the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees presents the award to faculty committed to teaching excellence - two to USC professors and the third to a professor at another university campus.
Lintner, also the interim assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs, brings an unusual path to the education field. After high school, he worked in real estate before beginning college in his mid-20s.
He is the second USCA educator to win the award. Dr. Chad Leverette, a chemistry professor, won last year.
The Carolina Trustees website notes the award can go to a full-time, tenured professor, cited for his accomplishments on- and off-campus.
Lintner was selected after being nominated by Dr. Jeff Priest, USCA's executive vice chancellor of academic affairs.
"It's an acknowledgment of the hard work I put in for students first," Lintner said. "The most important part of professorship is being a good teacher in the classroom."
Priest said the award has gone to several USCA professors over the past 10 to 15 years. Linter clearly makes a good candidate.
Lintner "is very active in teaching and teaching service," Priest said. "His motivation is to provide the highest quality of teaching, working with students to spend time out of the classroom to go into the community. He also runs our Center for Teaching Excellence, coordinating workshops for faculty."
He teaches in the area of social studies and comparative education. Lintner and other professors also send students to elementary schools through a professional development initiative.
The students help elementary teachers by providing instruction in small groups. Such service with the community is vital, Lintner said.
After finishing high school in Los Angeles, Lintner was hired by Bank of America as a real estate appraiser.
By the time he was 25, he began to consider the rest of his life - looking back at the influence of his ninth-grade social studies teacher.
"I wanted to be like that teacher," Lintner said.
He enrolled in a community college before earning his undergraduate and master's degrees and doctorate at Northern Arizona University.
Joined by his wife, Jodia, a Byrd Elementary School teacher, and their children, the family moved to Aiken when Lintner joined USCA faculty full time in 2003.
"I love USCA and its small size, as well as the ability to collaborate with students," he said. "I get to know their names and work with the other professors on campus."
Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter.