Teaching awards honor outstanding profs

Two times a year, students waiting for grade reports become well acquainted with persistent feelings of anxiety. For professors, though, recognition of extraordinary classroom performance comes only once a year -- with the announcement of recipients of the Lindback and Provost's Awards for Distinguished Teaching in April. Distinguished teaching is "teaching that is intellectually demanding, unusually coherent, and permanent in its effect," according to Criteria and Guidelines for the Lindback Awards in the Non-Health Areas. "The distinguished teacher is fair, free from prejudice, and single-minded in the pursuit of truth," the Guidelines said. Full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty are eligible for the Lindback Award, while the Provost's Award honors part-time teachers, including administrators responsible for one or two courses per year, she added. Nominations for both awards from across the University are requested each fall. This year, letters are due by next Friday, Dec. 9. "After that, we solicit more information from [the nominee's] department," said Terry Conn, executive assistant to the Vice Provost for University Life and coordinator of the awards process. This material could include a curriculum vitae and letters of support, which are then complied into a dossier. Eight Lindback Awards are given out each year, evenly split between the Veterinary, Medical, Dental and Nursing Schools, and non-medical areas of the University. The committee, which includes former winners and several students, usually meets in early February to evaluate the dossiers -- typically 15 to 20 for the Lindback Award and four or five for the Provost's Award. "We do try to keep [nominations] confidential, but it's hard to control that," Conn said, adding that students who have written letters of support sometimes tell their professors they have done so. After the committee has made its selections, they are forwarded to Provost Stanley Chodorow for confirmation. Chodorow will present the Lindback and Provost's Awards to selected individuals at a reception in April. "I think the Lindback Awards are the preeminent teaching awards on campus, a recognition that the University values good teaching," Conn said. "Realizing that we have such outstanding and dedicated teachers on our campus -- it's always very positive." Both awards also carry stipends, she added. While the Lindback Award is funded by a local foundation that also recognizes outstanding faculty members at other area schools, the Provost's Award is endowed by the University. Although individuals cannot be considered for Lindback recognition and tenure simultaneously, the list of Lindback Award winners --stretching back to 1961 -- reads like a compilation of Who's Who at the University early in their careers. For example, current Geology Department Chairperson Hermann Pfefferkorn received the prize as an associate professor in 1981, as did then-Assistant Professor of Religious Studies Ann Matter, now chairperson of that department. Law Professor Elizabeth Warren, who received a Lindback Award last spring, said she thought the recognition was "wonderful." She attributed her selection to her belief in the "Socratic method of teaching, which is a fabulous way to teach and learn." The Socratic method incorporates intensive student-teacher interaction, Warren said. It requires enormous student effort and engagement in the learning process. Warren said she feels letters of support from students describing her classroom's challenging but fun environment made the difference in her selection as a Lindback winner. "Learning is exhilarating -- it's something that really turns people on," she said. "It's new and exciting, and I think that's what teaching is all about." Warren is currently on sabbatical, working on a "huge empirical study of business bankruptcies" supported in part by her Lindback stipend. "[The stipend] is an indication that Penn is both a wonderful place to teach and a wonderful place to do research," she said.

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