Buddy Howell, an advanced instructor in the School of Communication, received the 2020–2021 Excellence in Teaching First-Year Seminars Award from the Office of First-Year Experiences and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

He was recognized for his work in COMM 1004, especially the Hokie Undergraduate Groups (H.U.G.) program: the class is divided into groups of about a dozen students and assigned a H.U.G. leader, a student who previously completed the class successfully.