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It was 8 a.m. on a Monday — a dreaded hour for students — and Montgomery College professor Susan Bontems was reviewing vapor pressure charts for an upcoming quiz with Chemistry 101 students at the Germantown campus.

Bradley Green, 32, a biology major from Germantown, sat near the front of class, copying a chart in his notebook. Bontems makes it a point to make sure students understand what she is teaching, he said.

"She's not just a lecturer; she constantly tries to keep students involved and interacting with her in class," Green said. "She's very easy to talk to and she's always available after class."

The Washington, D.C.-based Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, which provides standards and an ethical framework for professional educators, named Bontems, of Germantown, the 2009 Maryland Professor of the Year last month.

Bontems, a full-time chemistry professor at the college since 2002, is the third faculty member from Montgomery College to win the award since 2002.

She was nominated by Kathy Michaelian, instructional dean of business, science, mathematics and technology. Twenty professors were nominated from Maryland, said CASE spokeswoman Pamela Russell. The council considers applications from the professor, recommendations from deans and department heads and evaluations when determining who will be named the state's best professor, Russell said.

After observing Bontems for the last five years, Michaelian said she is certain the chemistry professor deserved the honor, which "focuses on excellence in teaching." Bontems has a great rapport with her students and teaches with an uncanny passion, Michaelian said.

"She's one of the many good professors I have brought in," Michaelian said. "I am proud of our faculty, especially Susan."

Bontems, who declined to give her age, is an Arizona native who received a bachelor's of science degree in chemistry from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania in 1984.

It was the idea of understanding molecules and how they work in everyday life that drew Bontems to chemistry, she said.

A love for chemistry and a desire to make sure people understand it, helped Bontems decide to teach, she said. Before Bontems began teaching at Montgomery College in 2001, she managed a group of chemists at a chemical company for three years, she said.

Time away from doing research made Bontems think of a career as an educator.

"It's really fun to teach students about how molecules work and come together to create things," Bontems said. "Plus it allows me to do different chemistry projects with the students which in turn gets me back to doing what I love, being around chemistry."

School spokeswoman Elizabeth Homan said Bontems is the third professor at Montgomery College to be named the state's top professor by CASE since history professor Dr. Mary Furgol in 2003. English professor Joan Naake received the honor in 2006, Homan said.