Boston University Provost’s Scholar-Teacher of the Year Award: Past Awardees

2024 University Provost’s Scholar-Teacher of the Year Award Winner

Fallou Ngom, of the Department of Anthropology

Anthropology Professor Fallou Ngom receives the 2024 Provost’s Scholar-Teacher of the Year Award from University Provost ad interim Kenneth Lutchen. (Photo by Mike Spencer)

Dr. Fallou Ngom, professor of anthropology, defines a scholar-teacher as “someone who has honed excellent research and teaching skills informed by multiple sources and disciplines, and who nurtures similar skills in students tactfully and selflessly.” Professor Ngom’s scholarship and teaching are seamlessly interwoven, producing seminal knowledge and fresh perspectives that continually grow his area of study and bringing that same innovation and enrichment to the learning environments he creates for students.

Professor Ngom is among the world’s leading scholars in the Ajami literatures of Africa, and his influential work is credited with helping shape the fields of African studies and Islam in Africa. The author of numerous acclaimed volumes, Professor Ngam leads the African Ajami Library, the largest digital archive of African Ajami texts in America, which has logged more than 637,000 visitors globally since its founding. He continues to pursue an ambitious research program, with major ongoing projects around literacy and digital preservation of Ajami and Arabic materials in Senegal and Guinea being funded in partnership with the US Department of Education and the British Library. Professor Ngom’s scholarship has garnered extensive honors, including a 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 2017 Melville J. Herskovits Prize for best scholarly book in African studies.

While engaged in many scholarly projects and publications, Professor Ngom remains grounded in his work as an educator and mentor for Boston University students. Students repeatedly speak to the time and care he invests in their development both in and beyond the classroom. His passion for melding his teaching with the themes and materials from his ongoing research encourages “innovation, original research, and deep comprehension from his students,” writes his nominator, as he cultivates an environment of constructive feedback, exploration of unfamiliar ideas, and academic excellence. Since arriving at BU, Professor Ngom has created 11 popular courses, reimagined two others, and developed a hybrid dual literacy training model, the only one of its kind in the country.

Professor Ngom’s pioneering efforts in his discipline through groundbreaking scholarship, creative course development, and unstinting dedication to his students embodies what it means to be a scholar-teacher.

2023 Grace Kim, of the Department of Psychology & Applied Human Development
2022 Pnina Feldman, of the Department of Operations & Technology Management
2021 Pamela Templer, of the Department of Biology
2020 Matthew Fox, of the Department of Epidemiology
2019 Khiara Bridges, of the School of Law
2018 Robert Margo, of the Department of Economics

* Note: The University Provost’s Scholar Teacher of the Year Award has replaced the United Methodist Scholar-Teacher of the Year Award at Boston University. For a list of past United Methodist award winners, click here.