Each morning Dr. Kelly Pivik wakes up at 5:30a.m. to prepare herself and Spenser, her only son, for a typical day at the University of West Alabama, where she is an assistant professor of Psychology. While at work, she spends majority of her time between class preparations, research, meetings, and she occasionally finds time for lunch.
After she’s done working, Dr. Pivik and Spenser depart Livingston to commute back to their home in Tuscaloosa. Once they’re home, Pivik prepares dinner for her husband Matthew, Spenser, herself, and their eight cats. If Pivik’s day was overwhelming, she’ll find herself quilting to blow off some steam.
“As I have seen on a T-shirt,” Pivik said. “I quilt because punching people is frowned down upon.” Pivik never intended to be a college instructor, but it was a career that she grew to like and can never see herself giving it up.
“I never really
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According to Pivik, teaching is a very independent type of career, so it fits her well.
Pivik has demonstrated polished, tasteful and rewarding behavior as a college instructor. As a matter of fact, her performance has been so rewarding that she won the first ever Gilbert Award. The Gilbert Award is an award for teacher excellence at UWA.
“When I won the Gilbert Award, I was stunned. It’s true that they do keep the winners a secret – I had no idea,” Pivik said. “I never expected to win it, to be honest. Winning the Gilbert Award made me proud because that told me that I was doing a good job for my students, which is the most important thing for me.”
According to Dean Mark Davis, Dr. Pivik appears to love what she does. Davis is the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at UWA.
“She would not have won the Gilbert Award for Teaching Excellence if she did not have a passion of teaching. Her students see that, and they were the ones who initiated the nomination for the Gilbert Award,” Davis