Terry “Bucky” Gates receives the 2024 Libraries Faculty Award

The 2024 NC State University Libraries Faculty Award has been given to Terry “Bucky” Gates, an assistant teaching professor in Biological Sciences, whose collaborations with the Libraries in the areas of open pedagogy and citizen science are extraordinary. 

The Libraries Faculty Award recognizes NC State faculty members who have contributed consistently and notably to the accomplishment of the Libraries' mission, vision, and strategic initiatives. The award, established in commemoration of the Libraries’ centennial year in 1989, enables the Libraries to recognize faculty contributions and comes with an honorarium and recognition at the Friends of the Libraries fall event.

Dr. Gates is a paleontologist and evolutionary biologist who teaches courses in paleoecology, evolutionary theory, and general biology. His research spans an array of topics from describing new species of dinosaurs and fossil sharks to understanding the ecology of ancient ecosystems to discovering 97-million-year-old dinosaur eggs in Utah. Other recent NC State honors that Gates has received include the 2023 Outstanding Engagement Award and the 2023 Academy of Outstanding Faculty in Engagement and Extension.

Dr. Gates has brought an explorer’s passion to public education through his work with the Libraries. He participated in the Libraries’ inaugural Open Pedagogy Incubator, a semester-long program designed to incentivize faculty to go beyond the first step in open education—adopting open course materials—to implement multiple open-enabled practices in their courses. Modeled on the Libraries’ successful Alt-Textbook program and the 2019 pilot of our OPEN Incubator, the Open Pedagogy Incubator brings together a cohort of faculty instructors to develop competencies in open pedagogy through a series of hands-on workshops, curated readings, and cohort discussions.

He then used the knowledge and skills gained from the incubator to develop a new course dedicated to open science. In the course, students analyze bacterial and demographic data gathered from trees across NC State's campus. Dr. Gates created a website to centralize and publicly share the collected data, using innovative data management coding and effective data visualization techniques for maximum impact.

“I believe my role as a teacher is to prepare our future leaders to be curious and collaborative. Open education practices can pull all of this off, because they prompt students to move from an information-absorbing mindset to an information-generating mindset,” Gates says. “And, interestingly, they find that ideas beget more ideas. So, the longer students are sharing information amongst themselves, the more prominently their curiosity emerges.”

“The Open Pedagogy Incubator drew my attention because I am striving for ways to decrease the power dynamic in the classroom, making the environment more collaborative instead of a monologue. Having worked with citizen science, I knew that providing more space in my classes for student contributions could make for more equitable education. So, I signed up to learn new techniques, and the library Incubator instructors did not disappoint. Not only did they tell us about methods to incorporate Open Pedagogy, but they also practiced it during the Incubator. I could feel what it was like from the learner side. One technique that has received praise in my classes is open annotation of journal articles by the students. They freely pose questions or comments about the text, and (without my prompting) respond to one another, sometimes having long annotated conversations.”

Dr. Gates regularly publishes on open pedagogy and citizen science topics, co-authoring the article “Strategies to empower students through open pedagogy and citizen science” with the Libraries’ Librarian for Student Success and Affordability David Tully and Director of Open Knowledge Center & Head of Information Policy Will Cross.

“Dr. Gates' work in integrating open pedagogy into his courses not only revolutionizes the learning experience but also serves as a model for faculty across disciplines,” Tully says. “Moreover, Dr. Gates' advocacy for marginalized students and his efforts to diversify participation in citizen science projects highlight his dedication to social justice within the scientific community. His work within citizen science seeks to actively reshape the landscape of scientific practice to be more equitable and representative. Receiving the Libraries Faculty Award is a testament to his role as a transformative educator and an inspiring leader in promoting a more inclusive and collaborative academic environment."

Dr. Gates is also a leader in citizen science efforts in K-12 schools, as both an educator and trainer. He has reached over 6,000 students and 300 teachers, both locally and internationally, as they practice citizen science and learn how to incorporate it into the classroom. Dr. Gates has accomplished this by building community partnerships—such as between NC State, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and North Carolina public school districts—to develop modules with teachers based on his scientific research.

One example of this work is the Shark Teeth Forensics project, which supports open and equitable pedagogy in public schools. In this project, students help discover fossil shark teeth and take size measurements that are used for studying ancient shark ecology. The lesson plans are openly available and have been used by hundreds of K-12 instructors.