Archambault Teaching Award

The Reginald D. Archambault Award for Teaching Excellence recognizes, rewards, and promotes excellence in teaching in the Brown University summer programs. The award is named in recognition of Reginald D. Archambault, Professor of Education emeritus, and the inaugural Dean of Summer Studies, 1984 - 1992. Professor Archambault served as Chair of Brown’s Education Department from 1967 through the early eighties, contributing greatly to the M.A.T. program and developing the Brown Summer High School as a teaching laboratory. He remains dedicated to advancing the craft of pedagogy.

Award recipients are selected based on their ability to influence, motivate and inspire students to learn, as well as their creativity and innovation in the development of curriculum and resources that promote student learning.

Learn more about this award and how to nominate yourself or a colleague »

2012 Archambault Teaching Award Winners Announced

2012 nominations produced an exceptionally strong pool of teaching award candidates who brought enthusiasm, professionalism and innovation to their classes, and provoked outstanding reviews from their students. We are awarding a first prize, a second prize, and three honorable mentions. The award recipients are:

1st prize: Maureen Estevez & Jordan Renna for "Neuroscience in Health & Disease"
Maureen and Jordan’s class stood out as inquiry-based teaching at its best. Students were quizzed frequently and critically reflected on their learning. The instructors asked for anonymous student evaluations regularly and made sure to integrate feedback into their class. Maureen and Jordan also created an extraordinary course pack with clear learning goals and leading questions, resulting in a course that significantly advanced student learning.

2nd prize: James Joy & Timothy Raben for "The Quantum Revolution in Technology"
Tim and James did an exemplary job of team teaching. They took turns in class, complementing each other’s teaching style, while challenging and inspiring their students. Their lessons were carefully planned out, yet there was room for spontaneous discussion and problem solving in the classroom. Most remarkably, they made the difficult topic of quantum mechanics accessible to high school students.

Honorable Mention: Minh Ly for "Global Justice and International Politics"
Minh guided discussion sessions in ways that created genuine excitement and active participation in the classroom. Indeed, his skill in eliciting participation reached every student in his class. His approachable classroom presence inspired terrifically positive student evaluations.

Honorable Mention: Tania Jenkins for "Sociology of Diagnosis"
Tania made use of a variety of very effective instructional techniques. In leading discussions, she was particularly adept in taking student comments and turning them back to the students in ways that inspired them to keep thinking, and to think more deeply. At the same time, she created a safe and comfortable atmosphere where students were challenged to reflect, and felt free to openly express differing opinions.

Honorable Mention: Jacqueline Anderson for "Number Theory"
Jacqueline’s innovative and creative course included classroom problem solving in ways that made the process highly interactive. Her teaching brought her subject to life, inspired students to share her joy and excitement in mathematics and to work well above and beyond what was required.

Past Award Recipients:

2011

Jordan M. Braciszewski
Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Behavioral & Social Sciences, Dept. of Public Health
“Community Psychology: Making a Difference in the Real World”

Honorable mentions
Eoin Ryan - Graduate Student in Philosophy, for “To be Human: Minds, Robots, Clones and Zombies”
Deborah Katz - Graduate Student in English, for “Putting Ideas into Words”

2010

Stella Aslibekyan
Graduate Student, Bio-Med
“Nature and Nurture: Genes and Environment in Human Biology”

Honorable mentions
Lorin Jakubek - School of Engineering for “Exploring the Interface of Nanotechnology and Biology”
Daniel Block - Department of English for “Putting Ideas into Words”
Erica Moretti - Italian Studies for “Intensive Italian for Beginners”
Nitin Jadhav - School of Engineering for “Do you want to be an Engineer?”

2009

Tai-Sen He
Graduate Student, Department of Economics
“Principles of Economics”

Honorable mentions
Dr. Andrew Peter Mallon - Postdoctoral Research Associate, Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology for “The Secrets of Learning and Memory”
Lisa Koriouchkina - Graduate Student, Department of Anthropology for “Introduction to Anthropology”