(COLUMBIA, SC) Dr. Ann Benson, assistant professor of music, has won the 2005 Undergraduate Students' Choice Award for Teaching Excellence.

The award is determined entirely by student nomination and vote. Students are asked to nominate faculty members who exemplify teaching excellence and who have made a real difference in students' learning and development.

Benson, who joined the faculty in 2001, is regarded as a dedicated, popular, and influential teacher. A 1977 Columbia College graduate, she holds a master of music degree from Indiana University and a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of South Carolina. She made her New York recital debut in Carnegie Hall in 1989 and her New York operatic debut in the title role of Puccini's Tosca with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center in 1993.

Benson has also performed with the Connecticut Opera, the Peoria Civic Opera, the Des Moines Metro Opera, the Syracuse Symphony, the Ann Arbor Symphony, the Hudson Valley Philharmonic, the Indianapolis Philharmonic, the Savannah Symphony, the Charlotte Symphony, the Greenville Symphony, the Augusta Symphony, the USC Symphony, the S.C. Philharmonic, and others.