Yale University faculty members honoured for their commitment to teaching

A total of six faculty members were named and recognized by Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis during a reception at the Humanities Quadrangle on April 29.

Study Abroad: Yale University has honoured six members of the Yale faculty with Yale College’s teaching prizes. These prizes recognize exceptional undergraduate teaching. It was given by Dean Pericles Lewis during a reception at the Humanities Quadrangle on April 29.

The faculty members who received the awards include - from Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences - Sarah Demers, professor of physics; David Blight, Sterling Professor of History and African American Studies; John Lafferty, the John C. Malone Professor of Statistics & Data Science; Adriane Steinacker, senior lecturer in Physics; Margherita Tortora, senior lector II in Spanish; and Carlos Eire, the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor of History and Religious Studies. 

Among the award winners, there are distinguished researchers and educators - Steinacker was awarded the Poorvu Family Fund for Academic Innovation Award in 2019 and Demers was awarded the 2013-2014 Provost’s Teaching Prize. Some of them are winners of previous teaching prizes.

University citation for prizewinner faculty members 

David Blight, the Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize awarded for teaching excellence in the humanities. He is a Professor of History and African American Studies. The university said that his students call his courses ‘legendary,’. They find his telling of history to be ‘illuminating’ and ‘gripping’. David Blight is known for his excitement for the subject matter which the students find infectious.

“One student shared: ‘I would’ve sat in my seat in Civil War and Reconstruction for as long as he wanted to speak to us. His eloquence in articulating this time period in history not only demonstrated why it speaks to him, but why it should speak to us…He had me at: ‘we are the only species who can write our own past," said the official statement from Yale University.

Sarah Demers, the Dylan Hixon ’88 Prize awarded for teaching excellence in the natural sciences. She is a Professor of Physics. She is recognized as a leading researcher in her field and has the unique ability and a solid reputation to dazzle students with her teaching.

She taught hundreds of students taking Physics for the Life Sciences as a pre-requisite for majors in the Biological Sciences and/or medical school — making the material enjoyable with her infectious enthusiasm.

One student shared that ‘she fosters an environment that facilitates superlative learning…she exuded a positive energy that made learning topics in an arduous class, such as physics, an enjoyable experience — a rarity in modern education… she was able to bring lively anecdotes, stories, and interactions into her teachings, as stated by the university.

John Lafferty, the Lex Hixon ’63 Prize, was awarded for teaching excellence in the social sciences. John Lafferty, John C. Malone Professor of Statistics & Data Science, your students find your lectures engaging, they find your teaching to be phenomenal, and they find your approachability and genuine interest in helping them with their own pursuits to be truly amazing, said Yale University statement.

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