Faculty Honored for Teaching, Writing

On June 2, the Society of Columbia Graduates and the deans of Columbia College and Columbia Engineering bestowed the annual Great Teacher Awards on Associate Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology Dustin R. Rubenstein and Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Andrew Smyth.

The Academic Awards Committee of Columbia College celebrated the student-nominated recipients of the 2018 Lionel Trilling Book Award and Mark Van Doren Award for Teaching at a ceremony on May 2. Gareth Williams, the Violin Family Professor of Classics and chair, Department of Classics, was honored with the 43rd annual Lionel Trilling Book Award for his recent book, Pietro Bembo on Etna: The Ascent of a Venetian Humanist, chosen by the committee for bringing “illuminating new perspective to another work of literature.” Gauri Viswanathan TC’85, the Class of 1933 Professor of English and Comparative Literature and director, the South Asia Institute, was honored with the 57th annual Mark Van Doren Award for Teaching “for the unmistakably global scale of her thinking.”

On April 11, eight faculty members were honored with Lenfest Awards for exceptional instruction and scholarship. The 2018 recipients are Professor of Religion Courtney Bender; Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature Eleanor Johnson; the Frank Gallipoli Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art Branden W. Joseph; Professor of Biological Sciences and Systems Biology Molly Przeworski; Senior Lecturer in the American Language Program Shelley A. Saltzman BC’79, TC’97; Associate Professor of History Neslihan Şenocak; Associate Professor of Religion Josef Sorett; and Professor of History Marc Van De Mieroop. Each honoree receives a stipend of $25,000 a year for three years.