Regina Hansen and Davida Pines Receive Teaching and Service Awards

At the annual faculty and staff wine and cheese party to start the new academic year, Dean Linda Wells awarded the Sensel and Richter awards to Regina Hasen and Davida Pines.

Regina Hansen received the Dr. Ismail Seda Sensel award.  Hansen received outstanding teaching evaluations for her work in Rhetoric 101/102 and is also known for her exemplary service to the College, her committee work, and particularly her contributions to the production of the CGS literary magazine. In addition to her extraordinary teaching and service last year, Regina also edited a collection of essays, entitled Roman Catholicism in Fantastic Film:  Essays on Belief, Spectacle, Ritual and Imagery. The collection explores the relationship between Roman Catholicism and the films of the fantastic (fantasy, horror, science fiction, and the supernatural).

Wells said of Hansen, “She is perceived as a caring, patient teacher who guides her students effectively while at the same time letting them have some room to roam and test their own insights. …  Many [students] found ways to say that they see the world with a keener eye after having worked for a year with Regina on their powers of observation, analysis, and research.”  CGS established the Dr. Ismail Seda Sensel Fund to ensure that dedicated professors receive the public recognition they deserve for their service and commitment to the college and its students.

Davida Pines received the Peyton Richter award, awarded to an individual whose work exemplifies the interdisciplinary concept of the program and whom students deem an outstanding teacher.  Wells said of Pines, “She has distinguished herself as a teacher, scholar, and colleague during her time at the College.   Her students praise her teaching … The substance of their commentary about their learning suggests how much they have developed an interdisciplinary lens, how much they can work from multiple perspectives.”

Wells said, “Teaching at CGS allows us to move and in fact forces us to move outside our specialty and to become an interested and interesting thinker beyond our own comfort zone. … Teaching here requires faculty to be courageous—to take risks, to hazard an opinion outside those opinions we were schooled to hold.  Davida fits the bill.”

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