Dr. Ballard has won the University of South Carolina’s Garnet Apple Award for Teaching Innovation.

The Garnet Apple Award for Teaching Innovation honors UofSC’s exceptional faculty who demonstrate an ongoing commitment to best teaching practices and an ongoing record of developing innovative strategies to enhance student learning in their courses. Five recipients received this year’s award and are to be commended for their accomplishments.

Dr. Ballard was recognized for chairing an ad hoc department committee whose primary charge was to improve success rates of students in Math 141 and 142. He took a leadership role in reforming Calculus I (Math 141) and II (Math 142) courses, facilitating a growth mindset in calculus classrooms by implementing a system of Gateway Exams. The reforms yielded a striking decline in the failure rate for Math 141 students. He also created accessible mathematical content that benefits students who use screen readers and introduced the use of interactive theorem provers to introductory proofs courses.