Scott Waltz, associate professor in the Liberal Studies Department, was honored at the annual teaching awards ceremony sponsored by the Community Foundation for Monterey County. This year’s event was held May 5 at the Embassy Suites hotel in Seaside.

Dr. Waltz received the Allen Griffin Award for excellence in teaching at the post-secondary level. Faculty members from Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey Institute of International Studies, Defense Language Institute and Naval Postgraduate School were also honored, as were elementary, middle and high school teachers.

Established in 1982, the Griffin Award was created by a bequest from the late Col. Allen Griffin, former publisher of the Monterey Herald and founder and former board president of the Community Foundation. The award honors teachers who have a record of sustained excellence in the classroom and who have made a significant impact in the community.

Dr. Waltz joined CSU Monterey Bay in 2004 from D’Youville College in Buffalo, N.Y. He began his teaching career as an interpretive naturalist for elementary children, but moved on a few years later to pursue a master’s degree in the arts of teaching, and a teaching credential, at Beloit College in Wisconsin. After a stint as a high school teacher, he earned a Ph.D. in the Social Foundations of Education at the State University of New York at Buffalo.