Award Winning Teachers

Dean's Diversity Award

This award recognizes how diversity drives excellence in research, teaching, advising, mentoring, and service. All Trinity faculty, staff, and graduate students are eligible.

2022 Recipient:

Esther Kim Lee, Professor of Theater Studies

Since joining Duke in 2018, Esther has made a significant impact on the university through her directorship of the Asian American & Diaspora Studies program. Building on a foundation of advocacy by Duke students, alumni and faculty like AADS founding director Aimee Kwon, Esther successfully guided the creation of a new minor in Asian American & Diaspora Studies.

Housed within the Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, this new minor is dedicated to an interdisciplinary study of the people of Asian descent in the U.S. and will offer an exploration of the history, culture and experiences of Asian Americans and the Asian diaspora, focusing on the pan-Asian coalition of East Asian, Southeast Asian and South Asian Americans.

Esther’s work and the clarity she brought to this effort has enriched the diversity of our curricular offerings in ways that add value to the world-class liberal arts education Trinity promises, and that reflect the priorities and interests of Duke undergraduates.

2021 Recipients:

Shaundra Daily and Nicki Washington, Professors of the Practice of Computer Science

Computer scientists Shaundra Daily and Nicki Washington designed the Cultural Competence in Computing Fellows Program – known as 3C – to address issues of systemic racism and bias that directly impact students from minoritized groups and also faculty, as issues of race, gender and intersectionality impact hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions in higher education.

Initially hoping to attract 20 computer science faculty into the program's Spring 2021 launch, they instead garnered 144 individuals from 67 different organizations across four countries for the inaugural cohort.

The program has its roots in Nicki's research, which is focused on identity and broadening participation in computing. Shortly after joining Duke in 2020, she connected with Shaundra, a faculty member in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Computer Science, who shared her goal of creating a program that centers the perspectives and expertise of Black women, in particular.

In addition to the success of 3C, they have extended their successful partnership through the distinct but complementary Alliance for Identity-Inclusive Computing Education, which earned $10 million in funding from the National Science Foundation in August. These two are transforming participation and perspectives in computing.

Past Recipients

Dean's Leadership Award

This award recognizes a group of people or an individual who have demonstrated exceptional leadership to the department, college or university through research, teaching or service. All faculty and staff of Trinity College of Arts & Sciences are eligible for the award.

2022 Recipient:

Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Distinguished Professor of Art and Art History

Since 1989, Rick has taught legions of fortunate Duke students about American art, contemporary visual studies, and the art of the African Diaspora.

Particularly recognized for his authority on African American art and culture, Rick has organized numerous art exhibitions at major museums including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, London’s Whitechapel Art Gallery, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Rick has also written extensively on topics ranging from primitivism to postmodernism, in works including: Homecoming: The Art and Life of William H. Johnson; Black Art: A Cultural History; Cutting a Figure: Fashioning Black Portraiture; and, most recently, Going There: Black Visual Satire, which examines satirical cartoons, paintings, films, and videos by modern and contemporary African American artists.

This year, Rick was selected to present the 71st A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He delivered his six-part series on “Colorstruck! Painting, Pigment, Affect” – an examination of how colors, whether chromatic interactions in paintings and the sociocultural dynamics of race, collide in unanticipated ways.

2021 Recipient:

Steve Haase, Professor of Biology

Steve is an essential member of the team that shaped Duke’s COVID-19 response and, in particular, organized and monitored our surveillance testing program, which at its peak included a dozen self-administered test sites serving undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff.

Before vaccines were available, the use of surveillance testing and rapid turnaround of test results was credited with keeping infections low.

The data produced at those sites – routed through Steve and his colleagues for analysis and modeling – was invaluable in guiding university decisions throughout the pandemic.

As an example, in June 2021 they elected to continue surveillance testing of students and the university community despite a significant decline in cases. At the time, Duke was the only university to do so, but with the arrival of Delta in September last year, many others followed suit – and quickly.
 

Past Recipients

Undergraduate Teaching Awards

David and Janet Vaughan Brooks Award

2024 Recipient:

Kathryn Haas, Associate Professor of the Practice of Chemistry

Since coming to Duke in 2021, Kathryn's goal has been to convert four laboratory courses in Physical and Analytical Chemistry into Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) and guided-inquiry labs.

These types of labs require considerably more effort than canned labs, but they are worth it because are high-impact, create deep and durable learning, and increase inclusivity and retention – and they do that by engaging students with authentic research.

This is how she describes her approach to teaching: 

As a scientist, I like to use data to make my decisions [about teaching]. I am guided by the extensive research on science education to select effective pedagogies and practices for inclusion and equity. I have found that often, the pedagogies that increase learning for all groups are the same ones that feel most enjoyable to me as an instructor. I incorporate active-learning … and frequent formative assessments across all my courses, supported by extensive evidence indicating their effectiveness in narrowing the achievement gap, particularly for women, first-generation students, and [students from] underrepresented [populations] in STEM fields.

Past Recipients

Robert B. Cox Award

2024 Recipient:

Caroline Stinson, Professor of the Practice of Music

Caroline Stinson is a Cellist, a member of the Ciompi Quartet, a world-renowned soloist and chamber musician, and, most importantly for the purposes of this award, an exemplary teacher who collaborates with and encourages her students to produce their best work, leading them new heights of creativity, community involvement, and innovative problem-solving.

In recognizing her, the Committee wants especially to highlight the inspired way that she forms connections between students and others, including other students. With her encouragement, students discover the best of who they are and who they can be in relationship with multiple, diverse communities here at Duke and beyond. For example, each year her students visit Boston to perform with students from the New England Conservatory. They are also actively involved in music education and social change in the Durham Community. And they perform as part of Larkspur, the student string ensemble, enthralling audiences with their breathtaking interpretations of well-known as well as original works.

Past Recipients

Howard D. Johnson Award

2024 Recipient:

Karin Shapiro, Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of African and African American Studies

Shapiro came to Duke in 2003 and has been affiliated with both the Department of History and the Department of African and African American studies. She’s currently an Associate Professor of the Practice in both departments, which gives you an indication of how her teaching helps students make connections between African and American culture and history.

Shapiro impressed the selection committee right from the opening of her teaching statement, in which she succinctly states a teaching strategy that is ambitious and reflects a deep level of commitment and care for her students.  She writes:

“I meet students where they are, and provide tools to move them to a place where they read critically and fully participate in wide-ranging and sometimes difficult discussions. They also learn to construct well-sourced arguments, and write papers where we learn from one another.”

Past Recipients

Richard K. Lublin Award

2024 Recipient:

April Henry, Lecturer of German Studies

April Henry is no stranger to awards and fellowships – her career includes many of them. Henry received SEVEN top 5% course evaluations over a seven-year period, she is the recipient of the Borchardt Teaching Award in 2016, and celebrated as a mentor in 2019 and 2022. Her teaching repertoire includes the creation and offering of nine unique courses in literature, culture and language from 2018-2024. These courses include not only multiple levels of German language and culture, but also an array of literature courses including Fairy Tales: From Grimms to Disney, The Legend of King Arthur, the department’s graduate level language methodology course, a unique independent study course on Medieval Literature designed with student, and most recently a course entitled “Fantasy: The Border of Genre, Medium and Culture.” Her course development has been key in bringing larger and more diverse student bodies to the language and literature classroom.

Henry has been tireless in her commitment to all of her students, her collegiality within and beyond her department since beginning her career at Duke in 2009, and she continues to actively participate in Duke faculty development programs, exploratory practice teaching groups, and the Duke Teaching for Equity Faculty Program.

Past Recipients

Award for Excellence in Advising

The Award for Excellence in Advising, first presented in 2007, honors faculty and staff advisers who have helped guide undergraduates in the first two years at Duke.

2021 Recipient:

Makeba Parramore Wilbourn, Associate Professor of the Practice, Psychology & Neuroscience

From students: "I would’ve been lost without her…she helped me choose classes that really helped me grow and learn what I wanted to do. She gave me advice and explained things to me in ways I had never thought of before. She really helped me come to terms with my identity and who I am, and that itself is something so valuable to me, I could never be grateful enough for that. Words she said to me my first semester freshman year I can still remember so clearly, her impact on my life is unmeasurable."

“I always appreciate the time that Dr. Wilbourn took to make sure that I was always doing okay, both with my physical and mental health. I always knew that I had a faculty member that cared about me and knew me for who I was outside of my academics, which I know not all students experience."

Past Recipients

Award for Excellence in Teaching Writing

This award recognizes exceptionally strong teachers of academic writing. The award is made possible by the generosity of the Karen Blumenthal and Scott McCartney Endowment.

2022 Recipient:

Susan Thananopavarn, Lecturing Fellow, Thompson Writing Program

Find more information about past winners at the Thompson Writing Program website.

Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award (ADUTA)

2023 Recipient:

Sandra Valnes Quammen, Senior Lecturer in Romance Studies

Sandra Valnes Quammen ’06 is a Senior Lecturer in Romance Studies and the Director of the French Language Program. She teaches beginning to advanced French language courses, with a particular focus on introductory and intermediate levels. Her current research focuses on the intersections of sustainability and equity with language teaching and learning, and on multilingual and translanguaging pedagogies in the L2 classroom. Sandra received her Master's degree in Romance Studies from Duke University, and in her undergraduate studies she majored in French and English at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota.

Find more information about past winners at the Duke Alumni Association website.

University Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award

Past Recipients

Teaching with Technology Award

This award, co-sponsored by the Center for Instructional Technology, recognizes teaching excellence with a significant technology component. The faculty winner will receive a $5,000 prize. The award is open to all faculty who teach Trinity College of Arts & Sciences undergraduates.

Past Recipients

Dean's Distinguished Service Award

Past Recipients

Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award

Past Recipient