Teaching Excellence Winners Phi Beta Kappa PBK Northern California Association Honor Society

Teaching Excellence Laureates

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Phi Beta Kappa takes teaching very seriously. That is why the Northern California Association makes annual Teaching Excellence Awards to three or four outstanding teachers who are faculty members at one of the eight Northern California universities and colleges that harbor PBK chapters.

These awards are conferred to honor those who have been outstanding teachers and mentors in the opinion of members of PBK NCA. They are those who have taught an especially memorable course, or who have had a special impact on the education, career, life, or who have been found inspiring or particularly admirable by a PBK member.

Each awardee receives a handsome certificate, invitation to the Annual Awards Dinner, and a modest honorarium ($500 in recent years). Even those worthy nominees who do not receive awards are almost always delighted to have been nominated.

A nominator must be a PBK member*; the nominee need not be. Please note that eligibility for the award is limited to faculty members at the Northern California schools housing Phi Beta Kappa Chapters. All Phi Beta Kappa members are cordially invited to submit nominations; nomination forms may be obtained from this site, will be published in the September issue of the Newsletter, or may be obtained from the Teaching Excellence Chair.

2008 Laureates

Keenly aware of the great worth of learning and of the extraordinary gifts, diligence, and amplitude of spirit that mark the best in teaching, the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association takes pleasure in conferring its 2008 Teaching Excellence Awards upon these distinguished teachers:

Dr. John G. Forte - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology - UC Berkeley

Dr. Arthur Havenner - Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics - UC Davis

Dr. Garrison Sposito - College of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management - UC Berkeley

Dr. Elizabeth Tallent - English Department - Stanford

2007 Laureates

Keenly aware of the great worth of learning and of the extraordinary gifts, diligence and amplitude of spirit that mark the best in teaching, the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association takes pleasure in conferring its 2007 Teaching Excellence Awards upon four distinguished teachers:

Professor John Boe, University Writing Program, University of California, Davis

Professor Paul Groth, Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley

Professor Masahiko Minami, Department of Foreign Languages, California State University, San Francisco

Professor Ananya Roy, College of Environmental Design, University of California, Berkeley

2006 Laureates

William Parent, Professor of Philosophy, Santa Clara University

Recommended by Ausra Pumpuris: “I enrolled in Dr. Parent’s Informal Logic course during the summer solely because my friends held him in such high esteem as a professor. … Dr. Parent captivated the class, challenging and encouraging his students to re-evaluate their former misuse of speech. …”

Don Price, Professor of History, University of California, Davis

Recommended by Caleb Gilbert: “Don Price is an exceptional teacher. His assignments are interesting and fun to do; the assignments not only teach the material but they encourage students to go the extra mile and learn more. …”

Neil Schore, Professor of Chemistry, University of California, Davis

Recommended by Stephanie M. Stalla: “Before I took Dr. Schore’s class I hated organic chemistry. … Dr. Schore, unlike my previous professors, was able to explain all the material in a simple (but not oversimplified) and effective manner. … you could always tell he wanted everyone to do well in his class; he even re-graded the exams himself.”

David Stronach, Professor Emeritus of Near Eastern Archaeology, University of California, Berkeley

Recommended by Laura Steele: “Of all my professors and advisors at UC Berkeley, Prof. Stronach has provided the most support, both academic and personal. He is a most effective teacher of graduate seminars, in which he manages to be both gentle and firm, both caring and demanding, and above all he interacts with all his graduate students (and indeed, undergraduates, based on what I’ve seen) as colleagues and as peers. ...”

Darren Zook, Professor of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley

Recommended by Cameron Bensonsmith: “Darren Zook is an incredible teacher. He has a gift for careful detailed analysis and a passion for imparting knowledge to his students in such a way that they will find their own forms of charitable good works and humanitarian advocacy, whether it be in their career choices or their extracurricular activities. ...”

2005 Laureates

Jonah Levy
Political Science
UC Berkeley

Armin Rosencranz
Human Biology
Stanford

Andrew Workman
History
Mills College

2004 Laureates

David W. Johnson, Instructor
Department of Economics
Stanford University

Kristin Luker, Professor
Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program
UC Berkeley

Jody Maxmin, Professor
Department of Art and Art History
Stanford University

Marijane Osborn, Professor
Department of English
UC Davis

Daniel R Palleros, Professor
Department of Chemistry and Biochcemistry
UC Santa Cruz

John R. Wallace, Professor
Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures
UC Berkeley

The awards were conferred at the Annual Dinner on May 2, 2004.

2003 Laureates

Alexander Aiken, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
University of California, Berkeley

Margaret Conkey, Professor of Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley

Scott Gronert, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
San Francisco State University

Caroline M. Kane, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology
University of California, Berkeley

Eve Sweetser, Professor of Linguistics
University of California, Berkeley

The awards were conferred at the Annual Dinner on May 4, 2003.

2002 Laureates

Michelle Fillion, Professor of Music
Mills College

H. Bradley Shaffer, Professor of Evolution and Ecology
University of California, Davis

Alan Taylor, Professor of History
University of California, Davis

Steven Vogel, Associate Professor of Political Science
University of California, Davis

The awards were conferred at the Annual Dinner on May 4, 2002.

2001 Laureates

Keenly aware of the great worth of learning and of the extraordinary gifts, diligence, and amplitude of spirit that mark the best in teaching, the Phi Beta Kappa Northern California Association takes pleasure in conferring its 2001 Teaching Excellence Awards upon three distinguished teachers:

Oliver Johns, Department of Physics and Astronomy
San Francisco State University

Deborah Nolan, Professor of Statistics
University of California, Berkeley

John Diamond, Professor of Law, Hastings College of the Law and Lecturer at Boalt Hall, School of Law
University of California, Berkeley

The awards were conferred at the Annual Meeting on May 12, 2001

2000 Laureates

This year, the Teaching Excellence Committee, consisting of Leon Fisher (Chairperson), Lawrence Lerner, Ellen Weaver and Madeleine Babin chose four extraordinary teachers:

Marco Conti, Professor, School of Medicine Division of Reproductive Biology, Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Stanford University

Anne Middleton, Professor of English University of California, Berkeley

Jonathan Marks, Visiting Associate Professor of Anthropology University of California, Berkeley

Manfred Wolf, Professor of English San Francisco State University

The awards were conferred at the Annual Meeting on May 13, 2000

1999 Laureates

The Teaching Excellence Committee, consisting of Ellen Weaver (Chairperson), Leon Fisher, Lawrence S. Lerner, and Philip Persky chose the following excellent teachers:. Awards were presented at the May 15, 1999 Annual Meeting.

Thomas H. Lee, Professor of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University

Barbara Tversky, Professor of Psychology, Stanford University

Rachelle Waksler, Professor of English, San Francisco State University

Quentin C. Williams, Professor of Earth Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz

1998 Laureates

The Teaching Excellence Committee, consisting of Lawrence Lerner (Chairperson), Leon Fisher and Ellen Weaver chose three extraordinary teachers:

Martin Covington, Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley,

Cynthia Scheinberg, Assistant Professor of English at Mills College,

Philip Zimbardo, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University.

The awards were conferred at the Annual Dinner on June 6.

1997 Laureates

In June of 1997, Teaching Excellence Awards went to

Professor David Hollinger (History) at UC Berkeley

Professor Cheri Pies (Public Health) at UC Berkeley. Professor Pies had been a 1992 Scholarship winner as well.

Professor Brinda Mehta (Foreign Languages and Literature) at Mills College.

1996 Laureates

Richard J. Hoffman, History, San Francisco State

H. Mack Horton, East Asian Languages, UC Berkeley Timothy J. Lukes, Political Science, Santa Clara

Raouel Rivera Pinderhughes, Urban Studies, San Francisco State

1995 Laureates

Barbara T. Christian, African American Studies, UC Berkeley

Deborah M. Gordon, Biological Sciences, Stanford David Matsumoto, Psychology, San Francisco State

Elaine C. Tennant, German, UC Berkeley

1994 Laureates

Andrew E. Barshay, History, UC Berkeley

Peter Evans, Sociology, UC Berkeley

Donald M. Friedman, English, UC Berkeley

William KMuir, Political Science, UC Berkeley

Julio Ramos, Spanish, UC Berkeley

1993 Laureates

Margaret Conkey, Anthropology, UC Berkeley

John Heath, Classics, Santa Clara

Cynthia Polecritti, History, UC Santa Cruz

Susan Schweik, English, UC Berkeley

1992 Laureates

Louise George Clubb, Italian and Comparative Literature, UC Berkeley

Mary-Ann Lutzker, Asian Art History, Mills

Susan Mann, History, UC Davis

Leo Ortiz, Biology, UC Santa Cruz

1991 Laureates

Philip C. Hanawalt, Biological Sciences, Stanford

Jody Maxmin, Art and Classics, Stanford

1990 Laureates

James G. Propp, Mathematics, UC Berkeley

Erich Gruen, Roman History, UC Berkeley

Edith Yang, Chinese and Japanese, San Francisco State

Katherine Milton, Anthropology, UC Berkeley

1989 Laureates

Daniel Heartz, Music, UC Berkeley

Paul G. Fitzgerald, Human Anatomy, UC Davis

Marilyn R. Chandler, English, Mills

*The Phi Beta Kappa Society maintains a Membership Info Page which may be consulted for further information about election to Phi Beta Kappa.