Linda Beck, Nancy Worman and Robert
McCaughey Honored With Teaching Awards
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Linda
Beck
Robert McCaughey
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NEW
YORK, N.Y., May 9, 2001 - Three Barnard faculty
members - Assistant Professor of Political Science
Linda Beck, Assistant Professor of Classics Nancy
Worman, and Ann Whitney Olin Professor of History
Robert McCaughey - have been honored by the College
for excellence in teaching.
In
introducing the winners, Provost and Dean of the
Faculty Elizabeth Boylan quoted John Milton, who
wrote in Aeropagitica in 1644: "Where there is
much desire to learn, there of necessity will
be much arguing, much writing, many opinions;
for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the
making."
Said
Boylan, "This quote reminds us of the wonderful
commodity we begin with - students with much desire
to learn. It also focuses us on the central identity
of Barnard - a place where knowledge is made,
where arguing and writing and the forging and
re-forging of opinions are the tools used by faculty
and students in their common endeavors - teaching
and learning, independently and together."
Beck
and Worman each received the Gladys Brooks Faculty
Excellence in Teaching Award, recognizing considerable
individual achievement of assistant professors.
Beck
began her career at Barnard in 1996 after receiving
her BA from Skidmore, spending a year as a Peace
Corps Volunteer in Senegal and then earning her
master's and PhD degrees from the University of
Wisconsin at Madison. Her teaching at Barnard
ranged from First-Year Seminar on the Politics
of Identity, to the lecture course on Contemporary
African Politics, to the Junior Colloquium and
Senior Research Seminars, to team teaching a G8000
course on Political Incorporation.
Boylan
noted that Beck's nomination was made on the basis
of "her excellent performance in the classroom,
her development of new courses, her willingness
to spend extra time with students outside of class,
and on her success in teaching the First-Year
Seminar," and her very strong record as an academic
advisor. Despite a reputation of being a tough
grader and giving daunting reading assignments,
students praise her as one of the premier lecturers
in the department and for arranging time for in-class
discussion that is "just right." Said one student:
"I would just like to emphasize how wonderful
a person Professor Beck is."
Worman
also began teaching at Barnard in 1996, but for
her it was a return to her alma mater from which
she received her B.A. in Ancient Studies, magna
cum laude. After completing her master's and PhD
degrees in Classics at Princeton, Nancy taught
for one year at Rutgers, then at Yale. Her teaching
has included: a First-Year Seminar on Children
of Medusa, courses in both Greek and Latin, in
Comparative Literature too, and a graduate seminar
on The Monstrous in Greek Tragedy. Common adjectives
from her students include "energetic," "well-informed,"
"dynamic, "and "great."
Boylan
noted that Worman's nomination rested in part
on her special contributions to the Comparative
Literature major, including teaching both the
introductory course and the junior colloquium,
and her participation in meetings with majors
and those going on and returning from study abroad.
One student wrote: "Professor Worman made me feel
close to the other members of the class and the
materials. This course really made me feel a sense
of community within the Comp Lit major, something
that is difficult to do because we're all doing
such different things." When rating the overall
quality of the instructor, this same student wrote
(on a five point scale with 5 equaling excellent):
"6 - beyond excellent."
McCaughey received the Teaching Excellence Award
in 2001, and was nominated for this award by his
colleagues in the sciences and math, testimony
to the achievements he has racked up over the
years beyond the confines of the History Department,
helping to bring about and then directing for
five years the First-Year Seminar program, launching
the Writing Fellows program and most recently,
leading the Mellon-funded teaching with technology
initiative we fondly call BEATL. McCaughey came
to Barnard from Harvard where he earned his PhD
in History. His bachelor's and master's degrees
are from the University of Rochester and the University
of North Carolina respectively.
A
winner of the Emily Gregory Teaching Excellence
Award in 1987 and an NEH Teaching Fellowship in
Maritime History in 1996, Boylan noted that McCaughey
has melded his teaching and scholarship through
his work and courses on the history of American
colleges and universities and through his research
on the faculties of selective liberal arts colleges,
entitled "Scholars and Teachers." A recent student
who had taken three courses with Bob, a lecture
course and two seminars, plus courses at the University
of Chicago and Northwestern, wrote: "I consider
Professor McCaughey to be the most outstanding
lecturer, advisor and teacher I have had... I
found his teaching style to be highly effective
and unique." Said Boylan: "His colleagues look
to him for inspiration and moral support as they
launch into unfamiliar waters teeming with techno-benefits
and techno-pitfalls; his students are taken with
the many ways he finds to engage them deeply with
the material and the methodology of history; and
the staff at the Mellon Foundation are pleased
with his ability to take money off their hands,
knowing that it will be invested well toward the
improvement of undergraduate teaching."
Contact:
Office of Public Affairs, 212-854-2037
Office of the Provost, 212-854-2708
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