Ira H. Abrams Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching

This year’s recipients of SAS’s highest teaching honor are Mark Devlin, the Reese W. Flower Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Ayelet Ruscio, associate professor of psychology. Created in 1983, the Ira H. Abrams Memorial Award recognizes teaching that is intellectually challenging and exceptionally coherent and honors faculty who embody high standards of integrity and fairness, have a strong commitment to learning and are open to new ideas.

Dr. Devlin is known for his skillful and enthusiastic approach to engaging students in Astronomy 001, Survey of the Universe. He is “a natural teacher,” as one of his faculty colleagues notes, “who has inspired…students for 19 years with his style, his blending of background and research material and his ability to connect with a large class of undergraduates.” He has a reputation as “the go-to faculty member” for those teaching the course, and, as his colleague continues, “the style and ideas he has developed form a model for every new instructor…[who teaches] the course.”

Dr. Ruscio is, as one of her fellow faculty members notes, “a dedicated, skilled, passionate and innovative educator” who infuses even large lectures such as her Abnormal Psychology course with lively and frequent student participation. Her syllabi, which have been adopted as national models, and her research collaborations prove that, as another colleague notes, “her teaching skills go far beyond the classroom…into the research laboratory and beyond.”

Dean’s Award for Innovation in Teaching

This award, which recognizes exceptional creativity and innovation in instruction, is presented to Jeffery Saven, professor of chemistry and co-director of the Roy and Diana Vagelos Scholars Program in the Molecular Life Sciences.

Motivated by a deep commitment to innovative teaching, Dr. Saven initiated and developed the Biochemistry Video Project, which engages students in the production of video responses to journal articles. The videos are peer-reviewed—which makes them teaching tools in themselves—and shared with the articles’ authors, many of whom share their feedback. “The students responded enthusiastically (and brilliantly),” says one of Dr. Saven’s faculty colleagues, “to this innovative teaching experiment and deepened their understanding of biochemistry as a result of the work.”

Dean’s Award for Mentorship of Undergraduate Research

This award recognizes faculty members who have excelled in nurturing undergraduate students’ desires and abilities to conduct meaningful research. This year, SAS honors Geoffrey Goodwin, assistant professor of psychology, who, according to one of his colleagues, “strikes a perfect (and hard to achieve…) balance of hands-on and hands-off mentoring styles” when working with undergraduates in the honors program, in independent study and in his own Research Experience class.

Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by an Assistant Professor

This award recognizes a member of the junior faculty who demonstrates unusual promise as an educator. The 2015 recipient is Emily Steinlight, Stephen M. Goren Assistant Professor of English. As a faculty colleague notes, “she has an abundance of talent and energy, and she gives all of it to our students, sharpening their skills and broadening their minds.”

Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by Affiliated Faculty

This award recognizes the contributions to undergraduate education made by the School’s non-standing faculty. This year’s recipient is Anthony P. Espòsito, undergraduate chair of Hispanic studies in the department of Romance languages. “Toni’s success as a teacher,” notes a faculty colleague, “derives from his ability to take difficult, complex subjects and present them in such a way that he captures his students’ interest and inspires them.”

LPS Distinguished Teaching Award; LPS Distinguished Teaching Award, Non-Standing Faculty

This award honors outstanding teaching and advising in the College of Liberal & Professional Studies (LPS).

This year’s recipient of the award for standing faculty is Cynthia Damon, professor of classical studies. According to one of her students, “Professor Damon creates an incredibly dynamic, engaging and stimulating course, leading students through a purposeful and carefully directed exploration of Latin syntax.”

The award for non-standing faculty goes to Nedra Lexow, lecturer in the biological basis of behavior. Commenting on Dr. Lexow’s teaching style in her Neurodegenerative Disorders and Psychopharmacology classes, a former student notes, “Her message to us…was to never settle for a superficial understanding when you can achieve a more robust one.”

Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by Graduate Students

This award recognizes graduate students for teaching that is intellectually rigorous and has a considerable impact on undergraduate students. This year’s awardees are:

Thomas Dichter, English

Roksana Filipowska, history of art

Mashinka Firunts, history of art

Robert Hoffman, philosophy

Susanne Ryuyin Kerekes, religious studies

Fiona Moreno, Romance languages

Jacob Nagy, chemistry

Jane Sancinito, ancient history

Daniel Song, biology

Yitao Zhang, chemistry