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Nezar AlSayyadProfessor, Architecture, Planning, and Urban Design |
Nezar Alsayyad, Professor in the Departments of Architecture and City and Regional Planning as well as Chair of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, has taught at Berkeley since 1985. In addition to being a teacher and scholar, he is a practicing architect and the founder of the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments, among a seemingly endless list of accomplishments. A typical comment comes from former student, who says, “I can certainly say that Nezar’s influence on my life is unmatched. He is a mentor, colleague, and friend. He has shown me how research, creative practice, teaching, and service can be integrated in a way that captivates students, expands the field, and engages the broader public.” The Committee noted that Alsayyad is the model of a public intellectual whose list of achievements is spectacular, and who is “always teaching. “He provides unfaltering support to his students by being very generous with his time, his wisdom, and his expertise,” says another former student. Committee members noted both his passion and his joy in his teaching.
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
I am an architect and a planner whose scholarship is mainly in the field of urban history. Despite demanding responsibilities in two administrative positions, I have never stopped teaching full-time during the past two decades. I am first and foremost a teacher.
My teaching has always been inspired by my belief that the study of other cultures is a necessary exercise that is fundamental for understanding the self. Hence, I must use different teaching strategies for every class—large undergraduate lecture courses, advanced graduate seminars, and professional design and planning studios—and employ different techniques of motivation. I challenge my students and encourage them to challenge me in return. I inculcate in them a strong sense of discipline to ensure that they abide by the most rigorous standards of the discipline and the strictest rules of debate.
The one overarching motivation behind my teaching is a desire to share as much of what I know with my students; I always labor to explain the relevance of my larger research agenda. Sharing my scholarship with my students has been a key to my own success. Many of the books that I produced during my time at Berkeley started as graduate seminars. I am proud of the fact that many of my former Ph.D. students who attended these seminars are now leading educators in the U.S. and around the world. Their first published papers are often chapters in a book that I edit or articles in peer-refereed journals on which I may serve as editor or guest editor.
I always employ innovative and multidisciplinary methods in my teaching. In my undergraduate housing course, I introduced a simulation game several years ago that replaced the midterm exam. After eight weeks of lectures, I assign a problem that simulates a real life housing condition. The objective is to get the students to devise policies that attempt to ameliorate a substantially damaged housing stock. Students are divided into smaller groups that are assigned role sheets with different political orientations. Using the material taught in the previous weeks, these groups prepare position statements, engage in negotiations, and draft elements of a housing program. This dynamic and participatory exercise teaches them how to apply the principles taught in class within certain political limitations and negotiate with other adversaries.
While it is always gratifying to be recognized by one's peers, no award can ever capture the appreciation and the pleasure I get from any of my students when they finish a paper, a project, a dissertation, or a program. The privilege of teaching itself is my greatest reward.