Florida State University Associate Professor of Biomedical Sciences Robert Tomko Jr. has been recognized with the university’s most prestigious teaching award for his dedication to fostering strong relationships with his students and building a learning community based on support, encouragement, clarity and honesty.
Tomko, who joined the College of Medicine in 2015, is the recipient of FSU’s 2024-2025 Distinguished Teacher Award. The annual Faculty Awards Celebration scheduled Tuesday, April 22, has been postponed to the fall semester.
“Dr. Tomko brings a deep passion for teaching and mentoring, especially in helping students understand complex science in clear, meaningful ways,” said FSU Provost Jim Clark. “He’s been recognized many times for his outstanding teaching and research, and he’s a role model for his students and colleagues alike.”
Faculty members who have won a University Teaching Award at least five years ago and can demonstrate ongoing outstanding teaching for the next five years are eligible for the award. Tomko, who won the University Teaching Award in 2019, will receive a $7,500 prize from the university.
“I’m honored and humbled to be recognized,” Tomko said. “The College of Medicine and my department really appreciate the importance of teaching budding scientists and clinicians, and I was fortunate enough to have outstanding mentors in my early days that helped me to develop my teaching skills and approach.”
Tomko, who teaches courses to medical, physician assistant and doctoral students, believes his job as an educator is to ensure that his students are prepared for the road ahead so that the College of Medicine produces “a cadre of talented and objective scientists and clinicians to carry academic discovery and medicine into the future.”
He expects students to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, emulate professional behavior, and become proactive in their academic and professional lives. He models high standards of professionalism that will be expected of them and encourages respect and punctuality.
“I frequently remind students that they are the product of their own efforts, and that they must attack their goals and innovate ways to be successful at times. All students know my mantra: Nothing worth doing is easy.” — Associate Professor Robert Tomko
“I frequently remind students that they are the product of their own efforts, and that they must attack their goals and innovate ways to be successful at times,” Tomko wrote in his award application. “All students know my mantra: Nothing worth doing is easy.”
As an instructor of Clinical Pharmacology I in the Physician Assistant program, one of Tomko’s goals is to train future clinicians to be prepared for rare cases when the typical treatment may be ineffective by using a combination of logic, deep medical knowledge, and creativity to identify alternative causes or drugs for a given set of symptoms.
By employing a tiered system of knowledge development, Tomko compels students to make more distant logical connections that can help them identify and pharmacologically diagnose outlier conditions. He uses documented medical oddities to demonstrate that typical treatments may not always be effective and guides students to solutions through open-ended questions and gentle nudges.
“A given set of symptoms usually indicates a specific disease or condition…until it doesn’t, and the prescribed treatment fails,” Tomko wrote. “When that happens, clinicians must be willing to second-guess their initial diagnoses and consider possible treatments that are less on the beaten path.”
Quill Thomas, a second-year graduate student in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the College of Medicine, said Tomko always goes above and beyond for students.
“He goes out of his way to support students in any way that they need,” Thomas said. “He’s a great mentor to his students and to other students as well. I know that he’s had one-on-one meetings with other graduate students when they needed help or guidance or advice with other things.”
Tomka said that one of his greatest joys as a teacher is seeing a student master complicated concepts.
“Seeing all the pieces sort of slot together and that moment of excitement when everything clicks and they can start to apply it to all the important things we’ll need to do with that is really great,” he said
Tomko leads the Tomko Lab, which investigates the structure and function of the ubiquitin-proteasome system to aid drug discovery efforts for treating cancer and infectious diseases. His strong record of accomplishment in teaching, service, and research also earned him a Developing Scholar Award this year. This award is given to mid-career faculty at the associate professor level to support their research programs.
Other outstanding FSU faculty members recognized with faculty awards this year are:
Outstanding Undergraduate Advising Award
Ann DelRossi, College of Medicine
Christina Pater, Division of Undergraduate Studies
Paige Roberts, College of Motion Picture Arts
Community Engaged Teaching
Eundeok Kim, Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship
Rima Nathan, College of Law
Ladanya Ramirez Surmeier, College of Social Sciences & Public Policy, Social Science Health Policy Research
Tracy Woodard, College of Social Sciences & Public Policy, Interdisciplinary Social Science Program
Foundational Course Excellence
Choeeta Chakrabarti, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Anthropology
Karen Cyphers, College of Social Sciences & Public Policy, Department of Political Science
Bridget DePrince, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Jessika Valentine, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Modern Languages & Linguistics
Inclusive Teaching & Mentoring
William Butler, College of Social Sciences & Public Policy, Department of Urban & Regional Planning
Debra Cole, College of Medicine
Maxim Dulebenets, College of Engineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Yang Hou, College of Medicine
Haiyan Maier, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences, Department of Health, Nutrition & Food Sciences
Innovation in Teaching
Kani Diop-Lo, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences, Department of Human Development & Family Science
Jessica Greil-Burkhart, College of Social Work
Maria Ryan, College of Music
Outstanding Graduate Teaching
Darren Brooks, College of Business, Department of Management
Erin Bush, College of Communication & Information, School of Communication Science & Disorders
Sungmoon Jung, College of Engineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Stephanie Leitch, College of Fine Arts, Department of Art History
Lenore McWey, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences, Department of Human Development & Family Science
Mostafa Papi, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences, School of Teacher Education
Outstanding Teaching in the Major
Amid Ardakani, College of Social Sciences & Public Policy, Department of Economics
John Cole, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Religion
Angela Davis, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences, School of Teacher Education
Rob Duarte, College of Fine Arts, Department of Art
Michele Garber, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences, Department of Health, Nutrition & Food Sciences
Cynthia Johnson, Dedman College of Hospitality
Maria Cristina Ramos, College of Social Sciences & Public Policy, Interdisciplinary Social Science Program
Andrew Schrowang, College of Business, Department of Finance
Annette Schwabe, College of Social Sciences & Public Policy, Social Science Health Policy Research
Excellence in Online Teaching
Amber Ward, College of Fine Arts, Department of Art Education
Graduate Faculty Mentor Award
Anne Barrett, College of Social Sciences & Public Policy, Department of Sociology
Sarah Eyerly, College of Music
Lyndsay Jenkins, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences, Department of Educational Psychology & Learning Systems
Xiuwen Liu, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Computer Science
Thomas Needham, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Mathematics
Undergraduate Research Mentor Award
Shengli Dong, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences, Department of Educational Psychology & Learning Systems
Honors Thesis Mentor Award
Carrie Ann Baade, College of Fine Arts, Department of Art
Jeremiah Murphy, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Physics
Douglas Norton, College of Social Sciences & Public Policy, Department of Economics
Community Engaged Research Partnership Award
Sabrina Dickey, College of Nursing
Eren Ozguven, College of Engineering, Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Ralph Stair Prize in Innovative Education
Robert Hanna, Learning Systems Institute, InSPIRE Education & Workforce Development Team
Zaida McGinley, Learning Systems Institute, InSPIRE Education & Workforce Development Team
Carrie Meyers, Learning Systems Institute, InSPIRE Education & Workforce Development Team
Jim Reynolds, Learning Systems Institute, InSPIRE Education & Workforce Development Team
Jason Pappas, Anne Spencer Daves College of Education, Health, & Human Sciences, Department of Sport Management
Distinguished University Scholar Award
Xiaobiao Xu, College of Arts & Sciences, Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies
Jan Jaroszynski, National High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Developing Scholar Award
Aaron Wilber, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Psychology
Yanshuo Sun, College of Engineering, Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
Elizabeth Cecil, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Religion
Robert Tomko, Jr., College of Medicine
Distinguished Research Professor Award
Qing-Xiang Sang, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
Antonio Terracciano, College of Medicine
Matthew Goff, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Religion
Robert O. Lawton Professor
Pamela Keel, College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Psychology