The University of Chicago Magazine

Head of the class: honoringChicago's great teachers

Prize pedagogues: Physics professor and Quantrell winner Sidney Nagel

Hanna Holborn Gray's portrait may have been missing this past spring, but the woman herself made her presence felt. Despite a 21-year absence from the classroom, the former U of C president demonstrated that she hadn't lost her touch, as one of four professors awarded Quantrell awards for superb undergraduate teaching. The Quantrells and several other teaching award-winners included:

Quantrell Awards

Eric Caplan, Harper instructor in the Social Sciences Collegiate Division

The nation's oldest prize for undergraduate teaching, the Llewellyn John and Harriet Manchester Quantrell Awards were founded by a University trustee in 1938 by Ernest Quantrell, who named the award for his parents.

In addition to Gray, the Harry Pratt Judson distinguished service professor in history, Quantrells went to Eric Caplan, Harper instructor in the Social Sciences Collegiate Division; James Hopson, PhD'65, professor of organismal biology & anatomy; and Sidney Nagel, professor of physics.

Amoco Awards

The Amoco Foundation Award for Distinguished Contributions to Undergraduate Teaching, established in 1992, recognizes special and distinctive achievement in the College over an extended period. This year's winners were Malka Moscona, associate professor in the Biological Sciences Collegiate Division; and Donald Levine, AB'50, AM'54, PhD'57, the Peter B. Ritzma professor of sociology. Levine, who was dean of the College in the 1980s, has taught undergraduates for nearly all of his 35 years on the faculty.

Graduate Teaching Awards

This year's winners of the Faculty Awards for Excellence in Graduate Teaching were Lawrence Barsalou, professor of psychology; J. Peter May, professor of mathematics; and Jonathan Rosner, professor of physics.

Booth Prizes

The Wayne C. Booth Graduate Student Prizes for Excellence in Teaching recognize important contributions that graduate students make to the College. Winning the $2,000 prize this past spring were Allison Abell, Stanley Chang, Mark Clague, and Alexis Dudden.

Prize pedagogues: Associate biology professor Malka Moscona, below, who won an Amoco prize.

In this department:

Task Forces on Undergraduate and Graduate Education weigh financial pressures and the importance of maintaining the quality of the student experience at the University of Chicago.
The Campaign for the Next Century tops its $650 million goal.

Two new centers--studying poverty and race in the United States--are now open.

The portrait of former University President Hanna Gray was stolen--then returned. Then stolen again--and returned again.

Plus items For the Record.

Go to:

Return to August 1996 Table of Contents