KINGSTON, R.I. – July 14, 2025 – The Office of the Provost at the University of Rhode Island recently honored Andrea Yates, a Coventry resident, who teaches in the Department of English and the Department of Film/Media, with the Eighth Annual Part-Time Faculty Teaching Excellence Award. Professor Yates was presented the award, which includes a $1,000 honorarium, at a ceremony on May 1.  Her name is inscribed on a plaque, which hangs in the Great Room at Green Hall.

Yates holds a Ph.D. from URI and has been a part-time faculty member since 2006. She has taught over 85 courses. English department chair Carolyn Betensky noted that Yates has taught over 18 different courses in the English department alone. The variety of courses she has taught speaks to the scope of her abilities. Among many others, she has taught courses in American literature, British literature, Romantic literature, Modernist literature, and Queer literature and culture.

In her nominating letter, Betensky wrote of a classroom observation. “At every point in the class, Dr. Yates’s students were comfortable and engaged, and at every moment they appeared to be completely focused. So deftly did Dr. Yates lead her students, they seemed to be having a conversation among themselves about a text they’d all just decided to read and analyze together. At the same time, however, in spite of the relaxed atmosphere, there was always a seriousness in the classroom that kept students on a rigorous track.”

A student in one of her spring courses wrote: “Dr. Yates is always quick to spark an active discussion and encourages everybody to speak up. … Dr. Yates relies not only on literature, but on films, documentaries, and other forms of media, such as author interviews. … I am always excited to see what our class will be reading or watching next, as the curriculum has both well-known and virtually unknown content that I have not come across in other English or gender studies courses.”

In presenting Yates with the award, Vice Provost Matthew Bodah, stated: “It is clear to me, as it was to our committee, that Andrea is a great teacher who is truly welcoming and challenges students in ways that they may not even realize they are being challenged because of the wonderful atmosphere that she maintains in her courses.”