Penn Arts and Sciences Announces 2016 Teaching Awards

Steven J. Fluharty, dean of Penn Arts and Sciences, and Dennis DeTurck, dean of the College, announce the following recipients of the School’s 2016 teaching awards, to be presented on Thursday, April 28 at an awards reception that is open to the University community. The reception will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. in room 200 of College Hall.

Ira H. Abrams Memorial Award for Distinguished Teaching
This year’s recipients of SAS’s highest teaching honor are James English, the John Welsh Centennial Professor of English, and Jeffrey Winkler, professor of chemistry. Created in 1983, the Ira H. Abrams 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.

Over the past quarter-century, English has consistently drawn from a wide range of methods and media in designing challenging and innovative courses on modern literature, cinema and television, digital literature and theories of cultural globalization. “Jim is truly a lifelong educator,” comments one faculty member, “not just of his students, but of his colleagues, his readers and himself.” He brings what another faculty colleague calls an “understated pedagogy, personal warmth and wry sense of humor” to his teaching, mentoring and leadership of the Penn Humanities Forum and Penn’s Digital Humanities initiative.

A hallmark of Winkler’s teaching is his exceptional ability to engage students in some of the most challenging problems in organic chemistry. Whether he is teaching a large introductory course or the small freshman seminar he designed in order to share his passion for chemistry with non-scientists, “Jeff’s love of problem-solving has led him to emphasize conceptual understanding, creativity and risk-taking with undergraduate and graduate students…[and his] sense of humor and very big heart…keep students laughing even as they strain to plumb the depths of his lectures,” a faculty colleague notes.

Dean’s Award for Innovation in Teaching
This dean’s award, which recognizes exceptional creativity and innovation in instruction, is presented to Masao Sako, associate professor of physics and astronomy.

Sako’s commitment to innovative pedagogy is exemplified in his work to transform the calculus-based lecture-and-lab courses in introductory physics into an integrated, active-learning classroom where students learn fundamental concepts in physics and apply them immediately in on-the-spot table-top experiments. “His boldness to innovate in the classroom,” says one of Sako’s faculty colleagues, “and his contagious passion for physics make him a truly unique educator.”

Dean’s Award for Mentorship of Undergraduate Research
This dean’s award recognizes faculty members who have excelled in nurturing undergraduate students’ desires and abilities to conduct meaningful research. This year the School honors Patrick Walsh, the Alan MacDiarmid Term Professor of Chemistry, who is known for promoting research autonomy while providing close and careful supervision to the undergraduates in his lab. The result, as one faculty colleague notes, is that under his “tutelage, students with raw talent become young scientists…[who] have the experience and confidence to explore many exciting paths that working with Pat has revealed to them.”

Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by an Assistant Professor
This dean’s award recognizes a member of the junior faculty who demonstrates unusual promise as an educator. The 2016 recipient is Coren Apicella, assistant professor of psychology. Apicella is roundly praised for applying what one faculty colleague calls “her tremendous passion for the material and her equal enthusiasm for teaching,” which she shares in both large lectures and small seminars.

Dean’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by Affiliated Faculty
Katherine Moore, the Mainwaring Teaching Specialist at the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials, and Nakia Rimmer, senior lecturer in mathematics, are the recipients of this dean’s award, which recognizes the contributions to undergraduate education made by the School’s non-standing faculty.

One faculty member notes that, in developing innovative methods of introducing students to archaeological science, Moore, “is breaking the mold when it comes to undergraduate education in archaeology by relying heavily on experimentation and object-based learning.”

One of Rimmer’s students speaks for many when she notes that he “mixes difficult material with extensive resources and creative teaching methods to ensure the success of his students” in challenging introductory and advanced calculus classes.

Professional and Liberal Education (PLE) Award for Distinguished Teaching in Undergraduate and Post-Baccalaureate Programs
Rosemary Malague, senior lecturer in English and theatre arts, is the recipient of this award, which recognizes outstanding teaching in PLE’s undergraduate and post-baccalaureate programs. A theatre arts colleague notes that Malague is an “inspiring, passionate and persuasive teacher” who engages traditional and non-traditional students in rehearsals and performances as well as in the classroom.

Professional and Liberal Education Award for Distinguished Teaching in Professional Graduate Programs
The recipient of this award, which recognizes teaching excellence in PLE graduate programs, is Janet Greco, senior lecturer in organizational dynamics. Highlighting the transformative nature of Greco’s courses, one student notes that her teaching “significantly shifted my thinking and helped me to grow as a person and a professional.”

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:

Morgan Condell, ancient history

Louise Daoust, philosophy

Lee Dietterich, biology

Ashley Gorham, political science

Erika Kontulainen, German

Samuel Martin, Romance languages

Dianne Mitchell, English

Salar Mohandesi, history

Michael Noss, chemistry

Elodie Resseguie, physics & astronomy

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