Distinguished Teaching Award

2014 Distinguished Teaching Award Recipients Announced

Three outstanding UC Berkeley faculty have been selected as recipients of the 2014 Distinguished Teaching Award, the campus’s most prestigious honor for teaching. The award recognizes teaching that incites intellectual curiosity in students, engages them thoroughly in the enterprise of learning, and has a lifelong impact. This year, the Academic Senate’s Committee on Teaching recognizes:

• Eugene Chiang, Professor of Astronomy and of Earth and Planetary Science
• Munis Faruqui, Associate Professor of South & Southeast Asian Studies
• Ron Hassner, Associate Professor of Political Science

Eugene Chiang, Professor of Astronomy, Professor of Earth and Planetary Science

In the words of department chair, Imke de Pater: Chiang brings to class the “highest intellectual and scholarly standards and careful attention to the learning process, while maintaining infectious enthusiasm, at both the undergraduate and graduate student levels.” 

What his students say: “Unlike many of Berkeley's distinguished teachers, Eugene is not a flashy lecturer. However, he is excellent where it counts, and that is in producing students who enjoy every part of astrophysics. By every part I mean both the big picture, and also the nitty gritty, technical parts”; “I don't recall a topic in the class that Eugene taught half-heartedly. He would go through each new section methodically, working his way up from the basics and reach the desired conclusion in a very direct way, with minimal hand-waving.”

Professor Chiang, on his teaching: “The antidote to monkeying around with math is order-of-magnitude (OOM) physics: the art of estimating any quantity under the Sun, and beyond, to within a factor of 10. To do OOM physics is to distill—to make insightful, simplifying assumptions—to discard the dozen terms in the equation that don’t matter and keep the two that do—in short, to do physics. In OOM physics, scalings matter more than coefficients. Would it kill anyone to drop the π? Although mnemonics, heuristic arguments, and semi-classical treatments are criticized as dirty tricks, these devices should also be recognized as friendly introductory guides. We have to start somewhere, and what better way to start than with ideas that build intuition and enable us to crank out real numbers in real time—on blackboards and backs of envelopes.” 

Read more about Professor Chiang 

Munis Faruqui, Associate Professor of South and Southeast Asian Studies

In the words of department chair, Penny Edwards: Munis has an “ability to change the way his students see the world, through his passionate dedication to the role of teacher and mentor.”

What his students say: “We particularly appreciate his ability to relate classroom materials to contemporary examples from politics and the world at large” ; “I love how he makes everything a story, relating ideas to his personal life, our personal lives, and to today’s political and social world” ; “I was forced to question many of my pre-existing views. This was the most eye-opening and elucidating class I have taken at Cal... his organization, pace and presentation was impeccable.”

Professor Faruqui on his teaching: “Teaching is an invitation to undertake an exhilarating journey in which no conversation is taboo, no opinion too ridiculous to debate. Framing my approach are two central requests I make of my students. The first is honesty when expressing one’s views. The second is respect for the opinions of others. Without both, as I often remind my students, we can never be in a position to address and therefore go beyond the simple prejudices and deep stereotypes that overhang debates surrounding South Asian history. Ultimately, I see my primary role as a teacher not so much offering maximum coverage but more so facilitating the students’ engagement with texts, contexts, and historiographies. I believe that, as students enrich their own historical understandings, they also begin to question the very assumptions that underpin many of our ‘nonsense’ debates.”

Read more about Professor Faruqui

Ron Hassner, Associate Professor of Political Science

In the words of department vice chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Jonah Levy: "Ron is a spectacular instructor, a fabulous lecturer, who deploys novel teaching techniques, from processions of giant spears to games of croquet on Memorial Glade, and constantly seeks to improve his courses. He is also a devoted pedagogue, who spends long hours providing feedback and meeting with students. This devotion is combined with uncompromising academic standards, exemplified by the thirty-page research paper assignment that quite literally transforms the lives of many of the more than 100 undergraduates in his Religion and Politics course." 

What his students say: “I would repeatedly walk out of class saying, that's what a lecture at the world's premier public institution of higher learning is supposed to be like”; “ he consistently shows his enthusiasm for his subject, uses active learning techniques, and clearly articulates learning goals, all the while  engaging in ongoing efforts to improve and hone his courses to make them even more effective.”

Professor Hassner on his teaching: “One of the joys from teaching flows from the surprised expressions of students on their first encounter with a new idea.  I may have introduced a single student to a simple but unexpected fact (“Did you know that sideburns are named after Civil War General Burnside?”) or I might have led a classroom to appreciate a new argument (“Did you know that religion has not, in fact, caused wars?”). These discoveries may involve a new framework, a fresh way to look at a familiar concept, a multiplicity of answers where they expected only one (or vice versa), the startling realization that causality may be flowing backwards, or the simple appreciation of theoretical elegance as ideas converge in unanticipated ways.  It may be self-indulgence on my part but my students’ palpable wonderment pleases me to no end. My students are not alone in experiencing this awe of discovery."   

Read more about Professor Hassner

Take a walk through our Gallery of DTA Luminaries and visit the DTA Archives.