Five faculty members who were named as outstanding teachers received special awards at the Senior Class Day program exercises on May 25.
The teachers were nominated by undergraduates to receive the Yale College Prizes for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and the Sarai Ribicoff Award for the Encouragement of Teaching at Yale College. The awards were presented by Richard H. Brodhead, dean of Yale College.
Ian Baucom, an assistant professor of English, was honored with two top teaching prizes: The Yale College-Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities and the Sarai Ribicoff '79 Award for the Encouragement of Teaching at Yale College. This is only the second time in the history of the prizes that one faculty member has received two awards. The Sarai Ribicoff Award was instituted by the family and friends of the late Sarai Ribicoff '79, and is awarded annually to a junior faculty member in the humanities whose instruction and character reflect the qualities of independence, innovation and originality that were exhibited in the life, thought and writings of Ms. Ribicoff.
The Harwood F. Byrnes-Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize was awarded to Vincent J. Scully Jr., Sterling Professor Emeritus and lecturer in the history of art. The prize, established by an alumnus in the Class of 1942, is presented each year to "a teacher in Yale College who has given the most time, energy and effective effort to help undergraduates learn."
The other faculty members who received Prizes for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching and the names of their respective awards are:
Roger E. Howe, professor of mathematics -- The Yale College-Dylan Hixon '88 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Natural Sciences.
John Kihlstrom, professor of psychology -- The Lex Hixon '63 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Social Sciences.
Iona Black, lector in chemistry -- The Yale College Prize for Teaching Excellence by a Lector or Lecturer.
The award citations follow.
Ian Baucom
The Yale College-Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize for Teaching
Excellence in the Humanities and the Sarai Ribicoff '79 Award
for the Encouragement of Teaching at Yale College
Ian Baucom, you have demonstrated a dazzling erudition in a broad range of courses, introducing freshmen to classic works of the European literary tradition; acquainting English majors with the masterpieces of contemporary Irish literature; and exploring with advanced students the outer reaches of recent critical theory. Like some of the epic figures you study, you have gained a reputation for heroic eloquence. One of your students writes that your analysis of The Iliad "was so brilliant that [he] had to hold back tears of joy and amazement." Another reports that she "spent every class of 'Problems in Cultural Criticism' on the edge of [her] seat." Small wonder then that your sections of English 129 have grown so popular that students draw lots to try to win a spot in them.
Unlike some other heroes and lecturers, your manner is never lofty or remote. Your students praise your easy accessibility outside of class and your intense engagement with the written work they show you. One student who had, at your suggestion, submitted an essay written in English 129 for a departmental prize and won it, commented that it was not only your instruction in class but your personal encouragement that had made this achievement possible.
Ian Baucom, for your illumination of the classics of the western canon as well as for your championing of post-colonial and third- world literatures, and for the commitment you have shown to your students, Yale College is proud twice over, and then some, to bestow on you both the Sarai Ribicoff Award and the Yale College-Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Award for excellence in teaching in the humanities.
Vincent J. Scully Jr.
The Harwood F. Byrnes-Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize
Vince Scully, over the course of nearly 50 years of teaching at Yale, you have transformed the study of art and architecture here and indeed throughout America. For thousands of alumni, your lectures are the hallmark of a Yale education and a rite of passage into the life of the mind. Whether they have become distinguished architects, designers, critics, lawyers or any of the other things that Yale graduates become, your former students carry with them a profound respect for the built environment and its natural setting and remain awake to the meanings that every stick, shingle or stone can reveal.
Yours are courses not just in the appreciation of art, but in its imaginative realization. When you retired from full-time teaching here in 1991 -- an event so momentous that it was covered in The New York Times -- several of the greatest living architects came to Yale to attend that presumed-to-be-final lecture, in tribute to the effect you have had on their personal and professional lives. Hundreds of students who have arrived at Yale since that time are very grateful indeed that that event turned out to be an anticlimax, and in fact now that you are retired, it seems that you teach even more.
Vince Scully -- preserver of the past, champion of the modern, and (not incidentally) loyal supporter of Yale football -- we are very proud today to mark the first half-century of eloquence and erudition with which you have graced the Yale faculty and look forward to hearing still more of the history you describe and the history you yourself will yet make.
Roger E. Howe
The Yale College-Dylan Hixon '88 Prize for Teaching Excellence
in the Natural Sciences
Roger Howe, if mathematics is a language, you certainly speak it beautifully. Fortunately for those who are not themselves native speakers, you have demonstrated a gift for making fundamental concepts in the structure of mathematics become familiar and intelligible, and students who had never before felt the intellectual pleasures of abstract reasoning learn those pleasures from you.
Internationally recognized as a leading expert in your field, you are also known locally as a patient and dedicated teacher. Students report their gratitude for the many extra review-sessions and long office hours you hold in order to help them appreciate the subtleties of vector analysis and Lie algebras. Whatever special topics or problems students propose, you never hesitate to offer your time or assistance to their efforts to extend their reach.
Year after year, with unfailing graciousness, you have shown yourself to be just as concerned with your students' personal development as with their academic progress. For supporting advanced work in mathematics and for taking every opportunity to offer encouragement and helpful advice to undergraduates, we are exponentially proud to honor you, Roger Howe, as an instructor in the highest traditions of education in Yale College.
John Kihlstrom
The Lex Hixon '63 Prize for Teaching Excellence
in the Social Sciences.
John Kihlstrom, students benefit from your teaching at every stage and in every part of their lives. Your lectures in the popular introductory course -- which students have described as "dynamic and penetrating" -- reveal your passion for the study of psychology so winningly that some decide on the spot to become majors in the field. Many in your advanced courses have a similar response to the wonders you lead them to discover, and are inspired to contemplate careers in psychology.
Your enthusiasm for your subject is matched by an intense concern for all the students who seek you out after a lecture or in your office. They write of your boundless energy and your curiosity about their ideas, as well as of your clear-sighted supervision of their research into the fields of cognition and memory. The countless hours you have given over to counseling students on matters ranging from methodological problems to professional goals have had a profound effect on their lives.
Perhaps your greatest contribution has been as a mentor to those who wish to follow your lead and become educators. One of them writes: "I can only hope that I pursue my own path with half the grace, lightheartedness, and friendship that decorates the path followed by John Kilhstrom." For instilling in your students a sense that learning and teaching a subject that one is committed to are worthy goals for a life well-lived, we are very proud to honor you, John Kihlstrom, as an instructor in the highest traditions of education in Yale College.
Iona Black
The Yale College Prize for Teaching Excellence
by a Lector or Lecturer
Iona Black, it's no surprise that you have had remarkable success in guiding students through Chemistry 113, a course aptly titled "Chemistry with Problem Solving." For you are yourself a great problem solver: both as a distinguished young researcher and as a mentor to students trying to solve the problems that beset them in their personal lives. Whether enrolled in your large introductory courses, or specially selected as Science Technology and Research Scholars (STaRS), or just some random Yale student, everyone on this campus knows to whom to turn in a crisis -- and not just when the crisis takes the form of a problem set due the next morning. Even after countless hours spent in special study meetings and discussion sections, you keep your home in Silliman College open to make sure that no student's question goes unheard and no difficulty is left unacknowledged.
Since your arrival on this campus, a new phrase has entered into our vocabulary: "the Iona factor." This factor, which apparently represents the difference between confusion and understanding, between success and failure, turns out not to be a variable but a constant. It is another way of saying that you bring to the classroom and to everyday life that most precious quality in an educator: a caring soul.
For bringing exceptional intellectual and human gifts to bear upon many different sets of problems, we are very proud to honor you, Iona Black, as an instructor in the highest traditions of education in Yale College.