Paul Blowers is one of five University of Arizona faculty members to receive the 2021 Gerald J. Swanson Prize for Teaching Excellence. The recognition is one of the university's annual Awards of Distinction.

Blowers, a Distinguished Professor of chemical and environmental engineering, joined the faculty in 1999. One nominator recalled Blowers putting a poor exam performance in perspective. "He showed me exams he had kept from his undergraduate years in which he did comparatively worse on his first exam and then maintained a positive trajectory by applying a growth mindset through well-proven learning techniques," he wrote. Another said Blowers has become a key resource at the University for active teaching training for faculty.