Trinity College of Arts & Sciences faculty who have won teaching, service, mentoring and research awards.

• Dean's Diversity Award
• David and Janet Vaughan Brooks Award
• Robert B. Cox Award
• Howard D. Johnson Award
• Richard K. Lublin Award
• Teaching with Technology Award
• Dean's Leadership Award
• Dean's Distinguished Service Award
• Award for Excellence in Advising
• University Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award
• Award for Excellence in Teaching Writing
• Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award (ADUTA)
• Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award

Dean's Diversity Award

Priscilla Wald, R. Florence Brinkley Professor of English, Chair of Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies - 2018 Winner  “Professor Priscilla Wald has been a strong leader in advocating for a more diverse faculty at Duke. She always steps up to lead when issues of diversity are at stake,” said nominator Kevin Moore, vice dean for Faculty, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.

“We have seen sustained evidence for this in her home department (English) as well as in Gender, Sexuality & Feminist (GSF) Studies where Priscilla has been chair for the last three years," said Moore. "In GSF, she led the targeted recruitment of a scholar of color and this effort led to an open search this academic year in Black Feminisms and the successful hire of a very promising junior scholar.”

David and Janet Vaughan Brooks Award

Ashwin Machanavajjhala, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science - 2018 Winner  “One remarkable thing about Ashwin’s teaching record is that every single one of the three courses he has taught at Duke has been a new creation," said Pankaj Agarwal, chair of the Department of Computer Science.

"Several students wrote nomination letters for Ashwin, and they are unequivocal in their praise for the quality of his courses, his teaching style and effectiveness, and his accessibility and dedication to students. He is deeply involved in undergraduate research and also serves as mentor to students at the North Carolina School for Science & Math," said Agarwal. "In addition, he is an extremely talented and productive researcher, recognized as a leader of his research area, and outspoken, engaging member of our department with vision and ideas.”

Robert B. Cox Award

Kimberly Lamm, Associate Professor of the Practice, Program in Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies - 2018 Winner  “Professor Lamm is an extraordinarily gifted and creative teacher,” said Priscilla Wald, chair of the Program in Gender, Sexuality & Feminist Studies. “She stands out for her enrollments, her excellent evaluations, the number of honors theses she directs, and the number of students who request her as an advisor."

"In a group of exceptionally dedicated teachers, she is the one I most often see in her office talking to students and at student activities, and the one who most often brings ideas for undergraduate student activities and outreach to our meetings. I routinely hear from students about her passion for her material, the excitement she generates in class, and her availability to work with them outside of class and office hours," said Wald.

Howard D. Johnson Award

Peter Feaver, Professor, Department of Political Science - 2018 Winner  “Professor Feaver embodies all that is great about Duke’s educational mission: he is an internationally-known scholar, an outstanding teacher, and an educational entrepreneur,” said Georg Vanberg, chair of the Department of Political Science.

“He invests enormous energy in providing a rich educational experience that extends far beyond the formal classroom. For example, as part of his American Grand Strategy Program, he takes students on field trips to destinations that have played a significant role in American foreign policy, diplomacy, and history," said Vanberg. "And he works diligently to foster an academic community of current students and alumni. Within this network, current students are paired with mentors among the alumni–often a significant benefit as students begin to contemplate their careers after Duke.”

Richard K. Lublin Award

Robin Kirk, Lecturer, Department of Cultural Anthropology and International Comparative Studies; Co-Chair, Duke Human Rights Center - 2018 Winner  “Here at Duke, we pride ourselves on developing innovative, high-impact learning practices like Duke Immerse, Focus, Humanities Labs, and Bass Connections. Robin Kirk has been a leader in just about every one of these endeavors,” said nominator Lee D. Baker, chair of the Department of Cultural Anthropology and Director of the International Comparative Studies Program.

“She demonstrates how students can learn without limits by creatively teaching about human rights, memory, and the creation of borders and borderlands. In addition to teaching, she directs the popular Belfast program for DukeEngage and co-created the Human Rights Certificate Program," said Baker.  "She continually innovates her pedagogical practices and collaborates with faculty throughout the humanities and social sciences. Her ability to leverage the Franklin Humanities Institute, Bass Connections, and DukeEngage has been extraordinary for our students."

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.

Evaluation criteria:

• uses technology with a focus on student learning and engagement
• collaborates and shares innovative aspects of the teaching experience to the broader community
• assesses the impact of student learning

Dean's Leadership Award

This award recognizes a group that has 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. The winning team will share a prize of $5,000.

Evaluation criteria:

• makes a distinctive contribution to research, teaching or service
• reflects effective teamwork
• extends relationships within and across departments, programs, the school or the university
• contributes to a group effort that has significant impact

Paul Bendich, Assistant Research Professor in Mathematics, Duke Information Initiative - 2018 Winner  “Paul has shown real leadership in developing Data+ into a university model, in developing the new joint Mathematics/Pratt data course, and in advocating for our STEM students,” said Jonathan Mattingly, chair of the Department of Mathematics.

“With the Data+ program, he has masterfully worked with students, mentors and sponsors alike. He identified and developed projects, helped students with the research and secured funding. He has turned Data+ into a hugely successful program, with a national reputation and clones across campus. Equally impressive is the fact that he centered many Data+ projects on social justice and social issues relevant to the Durham community," said Mattingly. "He has also been very involved in developing a new Data Science course between mathematics and Pratt and when the department developed a pathways program for the weakest mathematics students, Paul advocated for these students' needs and helped to design a summer research experience."

Dean's Distinguished Service Award

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.

Franca Alphin - Volunteer College Advisor for 11 years; Associate Professor in Community and Family Medicine – 2018 Winner  “Franca loves getting to know our amazing young men and women, and supporting their dreams by offering direction and support,” said David Rabiner, director of the Academic Advising Center.

Her student nominators each noted Alphin’s interest in their well-being in addition to their academic performance. “She’s helped me to take a breath and reevaluate what I want with my education…I can be successful regardless of the setbacks I face,” noted one student.

Another said he appreciates that Alphin reaches out to other faculty members and administrators to ensure that she is giving him a consolidated, informed answer to his questions. And, that when he told her life was getting really hard, she recommended multiple things to help and kept in touch with him.
 

Rann Bar-On - Volunteer College Advisor for 12 years; Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics – 2018 Winner  “Rann is especially interested in advising first-generation and minority students at Duke. He works to address issues of poverty, race and discrimination, both seen and unseen,” said Rabiner. “He has found that facing such challenges head-on allows disadvantaged students to be open and forthright about issues they are faced with that they often find hostile and intimidating in an environment such as Duke.”

One student nominator said that Bar-On has simply been fundamental to his Duke experience. “He genuinely cares about my college career and has encouraged me to think outside my traditional views of education by taking courses outside my major and requirements.”

University Scholar/Teacher of the Year Award

Award for Excellence in Teaching Writing

Emily Parks, Lecturing Fellow, Thompson Writing Program - 2018 Winner  "From a very strong pool of nominations, Lecturing Fellow Emily Parks emerged as this year's award winner," said Clare Woods, director of the Thompson Writing Program. "For her course, titled Neurolaw, she draws on her own background in Cognitive Neuroscience to explore complex and topical questions - e.g. can advances in neuroscience inform our modern justice system? All the while, Emily creates a welcoming, innovative, and intellectually rigorous classroom environment that builds her students' confidence as writers and critical thinkers."

Award recipient names are maintained on the Thompson Writing Program website at this URL: http://twp.duke.edu/faculty/excellence-awards

Alumni Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award (ADUTA)

Karin Shapiro, Associate Professor of the Practice, Department of African & African American Studies - 2018 Winner  There is a common thread of appreciation in the student nominations for Dr. Shapiro: her classroom is not a place where she lectures facts at a group of silent students.

“She sees the classroom as rich soil to create new ideas, to play intellectual tug of war with students, to think and share freely. The classroom is where people are peers, with a unified mission toward truth,” notes one student. Nominators appreciated Shapiro’s dedication to getting to know each of them individually, inside and outside of the classroom. They valued her ethos for openness, curiosity and compassion, and for giving rich context to modern events by connecting them to the concepts and histories discussed in class.

Award recipient names are maintained on the Duke Alumni Associate website at this URL: https://alumni.duke.edu/awards-0

Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award