Amy Taylor-Perry has the perfect nickname for a chemistry instructor: “ATP.” It’s short for her initials and for adenosine triphosphate, a molecule responsible for energy in cells.
“My students love to refer to me as Dr. ATP for that reason,” says Taylor-Perry, who is known for her energy and enthusiasm as a teacher.
For nearly 14 years, she has taught general chemistry classes and labs at the University of South Carolina. Hundreds of students, many of them freshmen, take these courses each semester, and Taylor-Perry has designed them to provide a solid foundation.
“With freshmen, I try to give them general skills that will help them be successful not only in my class, but in all their classes,” she says. “You’ve got to read. You have to attend class. You need to embrace all the resources that the university provides for you to be successful in this class.”
Among the challenges of teaching so many students in one class is finding the right level to teach for the range of experiences students bring to an introductory course.
“I try to meet students where they are. Some had excellent high school chemistry, and some had none. So, I teach to the middle and then give opportunities to students at both extremes,” she says.
That means spending a lot of time with students during office hours, where individuals and small groups can get additional support on the basics and dig deeper into the concepts.
“I try to break down the chemistry problems as much as possible and to give students as much support with the math as I can. We break down complex problems into very simple steps that we can then put together,” she says.
Taylor-Perry offers sections of Chem 111 and 112 for the South Carolina Honors College as well as special-interest chemistry courses, including her popular Chemistry and Modern Society class and her Chemistry in the Kitchen seminar.
She also mentors Honors College students who are taking on chemistry-based research for a senior thesis, and her students speak highly of her mentorship. Her student evaluations are consistently among the highest in her department – scoring well above the benchmark for excellence in teaching.
“First and foremost, I try to be understanding of the delicate and unique situation that students can find themselves in. One thing I value is not deciding what a student is capable of based on their circumstances.”
Taylor-Perry has been recognized by numerous awards from the university, including Two Thumbs Up Awards from the Student Disability Resource Center and the Garnet Apple Award from the Center for Teaching Excellence.
Now, Taylor-Perry has received the Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award, with her nomination endorsed by the entire Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.
For Taylor-Perry, the recognition reflects the foundation and support she received at USC when she was a graduate student working toward her doctorate in analytical chemistry. With the guidance of her research advisor, Scott Goode, Taylor-Perry embraced teaching. Goode taught her the approach to teaching she still uses to this day: “I do, you watch; I do, you help; you do, I help; you do, I watch…
“It’s this sort of iterative process that allows a student to see the correct path, gives them freedom to attempt it and make mistakes, and then learn from those mistakes and master the question,” Taylor-Perry says. “I like when students make mistakes because they’re excellent opportunities for teaching.”
She also tries to extend grace to her students, remembering what it was like when she was working toward her bachelor’s in chemistry at USC Aiken.
“First and foremost, I try to be understanding of the delicate and unique situation that students can find themselves in,” she says. “One thing I value is not deciding what a student is capable of based on their circumstances.”
Taylor-Perry was a single mom of three when she decided to return to college to earn her undergraduate degree. Her daughter was an infant, and Taylor-Perry had to take the baby along in the car while delivering newspapers at night.
“And it was after one of these very cold nights, when my daughter was itty bitty, that I had this realization that something had to give. There had to be other paths,” she says.
Taylor-Perry’s parents supported her in going back to school to earn her degree, helping with child care as she studied late into the night. When she later took on graduate school, it was her partner who gave her the support she needed to keep going.
“I was attempting to commute more than an hour to go to USC for graduate school, and I was just worn out. I thought I just needed to bow out, but he said he didn’t care what it took. He would pay for all the gas and get the kids where they needed to be if I would just continue with the degree,” she says.
By the time she finished her doctorate, Taylor-Perry had secured her teaching position at USC. After years in the classroom, she’s seeing the impact of her hard work, not only through awards and accolades, but firsthand.
“I had an experience when my daughter had a very devastating health condition come up. We were sitting in her hospital room when someone walked in, and I heard, ‘ATP is that you?’
“I looked up and it was the pharmacist who was coming to check on the patients in the unit – a former student of mine,” she says. “Here in this moment, for me to realize that I had trained this person who was now responsible for taking care of my child, that was a full-circle moment for me of being reminded how important what I do is.”
Taylor-Perry says these ripple effects make all the hard work worth it, with thousands of her students going on to careers in the sciences, health care, research, education and more. The Mungo Teaching Award is another meaningful reminder that her work matters.
“As a professional-track faculty member, it’s wonderful to be recognized for that contribution, especially among my peers,” she says. “It just feels like I’m in the right place doing the right thing.