CAS congratulates the winners of the 2008 Teaching Prizes and Templeton Prizes for Excellence in Student Advising. The prizes were awarded at a faculty meeting this month.
The winners of the advising prizes are Carole Neidle, professor of French and linguistics, Department of Romance Studies; Carrie Preston, assistant professor, Departments of English and Women’s Studies; and Sean Elliott, associate professor, Department of Chemistry.
Neidle has taught at Boston University for 26 years and conducts a vigorous research program focusing on the syntax and computational aspects of American Sign Language. Students recommending her said she is responsive, helpful, and inspirational. As one student put it, “She responds to e-mails almost before you push the Send button.”
Preston has taught at BU since 2006. Her research and teaching interests include women’s literature and performance, modernism/postmodernism, feminist theory, gender studies, silent film, and dance. One student related that Preston “takes a genuine interest in her students and will devote hours to just one person.”
Elliott is an inorganic chemist interested in biological redox chemistry; metalloprotein structure and function; and the ways in which biological systems interact with metal ions. Student recommendations for Elliott were notable for their length and enthusiasm, commenting on how he inspires students and “adds a personal touch to every appointment with his jokes and his clear and present attentiveness.”
Susan Griffin, lecturer in Spanish, Department of Romance Studies, received the Neu Award for Excellence in Teaching. Griffin is an accomplished lecturer in Spanish, head of the Spanish language program, and instructor of graduate teaching fellows. She embeds language instruction in Spanish-speaking culture so that even students taking a course only to fulfill the language requirement speak Spanish from day one—and often come to love the language.
Michael Corgan, associate professor, Department of International Relations, won the Frank and Lynne Wisneski Award for Excellence in Teaching. Corgan is a specialist on war, statecraft, and European security, but his students often know him first as the instructor of the gateway course to the International Relations major. Beyond the classroom, he is a dedicated advisor of student s and has been a mainstay of the undergraduate program as the director of undergraduate studies for many years.
John Caradonna, associate professor, Department of Chemistry, received the Gitner Award for Distinguished Teaching. Caradonna is a well-regarded scholar of “metal centers in catalytic metalloproteins,” an arcane-sounding field that is central to understanding the chemistry of life. The department’s exit interviews with the graduating majors of the class of 2008 list him as among the top two professors in the department, and the majority picked his inorganic chemistry course as the very best experience of their undergraduate careers.