Arts & Sciences Teaching Awards Celebrate Excellence Across the College

Four headshots in a grid
Rebecca Stein, Bridgette Hard, Alison Hill and Kelly Alexander (from left) received 2021 teaching awards from the Arts & Sciences Council.

The Trinity College of Arts & Sciences has announced the winners of the 2021 awards for undergraduate teaching.

Given each year, the awards honor exceptionally strong educators from across the college. Teaching award recipients are selected by the Arts & Sciences Council on the basis of student evaluations, teaching statements and colleague recommendations.

“These four awards are bestowed by the Arts & Sciences faculty in recognition of especially outstanding teaching,” said Arts & Sciences Council Chair Josh Socolar. “The recipients are selected for their innovative and highly successful teaching strategies, curriculum development efforts and dedication to inclusive and responsive education.

“Collectively they cover a broad range of disciplines, types of courses and teaching styles. The work done by this year's recipients has made a strong impact on Duke students and is now recognized as truly inspiring for our faculty as well.”

Distinguished Teaching Awards

  • Alison Hill, Senior Lecturer, Biology – David and Janet Vaughan Brooks Award in the Natural Sciences
  • Rebecca Stein, Associate Professor, Cultural Anthropology – Howard D. Johnson Award in the Social Sciences
  • Kelly Alexander, Lecturing Fellow, Center for Documentary Studies – Richard K. Lublin Award in the Humanities
  • Bridgette Hard, Associate Professor of the Practice, Psychology & Neuroscience – Robert B. Cox Award

“These individuals challenge Duke students to think deeply about fraught topics and develop intersectional perspectives,” wrote Trinity Dean Valerie Ashby and Dean of Academic Affairs Martin Smith in an email announcing the award winners.

“They harness the power of storytelling to engage lecture halls full of undergraduates or spark excitement through fascinating seminars. They write about steadily innovating course structures over their time at Duke – whether that be four years or two decades. And many touched on the undeniable impact of COVID-19 on our faculty’s ability to deliver this world-class liberal-arts education, and on our students’ efforts to learn and thrive in spite of a global pandemic.”

Read more about this year’s recipients and see honorees from past years on the Trinity College website: https://trinity.duke.edu/faculty/award-winners.