June 2, 1997

UCSC honors eight faculty members for excellence in teaching

A UCSC Academic Senate committee has selected the recipients of the 1996-97 Excellence in Teaching Awards. Described as "challenging, charismatic, and creative" by the students who nominated them, these eight professors and lecturers were chosen by the Committee on Teaching from 30 nominees.

Chancellor Greenwood presented each winner with a framed certificate and a $500 award at a ceremony at University House on Thursday, May 29. The Committee on Teaching views the Excellence in Teaching Awards as an important act of peer recognition for colleagues whose work as instructors is exemplary and inspiring.

The names of this year's recipients follow below, along with the wording that appears on their certificates.

• Bettina Aptheker (associate professor of women's studies) for clear, effective, charismatic teaching that reaches students of every background, race, class, gender, and sexuality; for creating an inspired classroom community that works together for growth, mutual sustenance, and transformation.

• Harry Benshoff (lecturer in film and video) for fair, honest, forthright teaching that leads students on a discovery process, continually propelling them to learn more while furthering dialogue and understanding of topical issues, especially the complex relationship between media and the culture at large.

• Wendy Brown (professor of women's studies) for dynamic, creative, rigorous teaching that pushes students to think critically and learn how better to educate themselves; for dedication that is motivating and inspiring; for commitment to and utmost respect for each student.

• Donna Haraway (professor of history of consciousness) for passion, humor, impeccable organization, endless energy, and commitment in teaching; for intellectual generosity that communicates to students that they can agree with the spirit of an idea while taking issue with the details in enormously constructive ways.

• Jacqueline Ku (lecturer in Chinese language) for taking what she believes to be the superior points of Chinese and American education--diligence, high standards, encouragement, enthusiasm, and total commitment--and melding them into a set of educational principles that form the basis for her teaching.

• Ann Lane (lecturer in American studies) for challenging, intellectually rigorous, purposeful, inspiring instruction that fosters cooperative interaction among students while engendering individual responsibility for education.

• Andrei Markovits (professor of politics) for lucid, challenging, witty, deeply informed, and superbly organized teaching that communicates a sense of complexity and nuance while allowing students to understand political and historical issues with rare depth.

• John Pearse (professor emeritus of biology) for contagious enthusiasm in sharing knowledge with others; for listening to and trusting students as they observe and learn; for encouraging them to use knowledge to synthesize and form their own critical and internally consistent paradigms.

In addition, the following faculty members received certificates of honorable mention: James Bierman, professor of theater arts; Rebecca Braslau, assistant professor of chemistry; Marge Frantz, lecturer emerita in American studies; and Lisa Rofel, assistant professor of anthropology.

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