Faculty Laurels

The end of the academic year always brings a succession of faculty honors. Most recently, the Society of Columbia Graduates and the deans of Columbia College and Columbia Engineering bestowed the 71st annual Great Teacher Awards on Professor of Music, Historical Musicology Giuseppe Gerbino and Professor of Biomedical Engineering Barclay Morrison.

In April, the students had their say, giving their yearly awards for faculty members who have contributed outstanding work to publishing and academia. The Alexander Hamilton Professor of American Studies Andrew Delbanco received the 44th annual Lionel Trilling Book Award for The War Before the War: Fugitive Slaves and the Struggle for America’s Soul from the Revolution to the Civil War. Associate Professor of History and African American Studies Frank A. Guridy received the 58th annual Mark Van Doren Award for Teaching for his “humanity, devotion to truth and inspiring leadership.”

Also in April, eight faculty members were given Lenfest Distinguished Columbia Faculty Awards for exceptional instruction and scholarship, an honor that comes with a stipend for each honoree of $25,000 a year for three years. This year’s recipients were Taoufik Ben-Amor, the Gordon Gray Jr. Senior Lecturer in Arabic Studies; Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature Matthew Hart; Associate Professor of Political Science Kimuli Kasara; Professor of Writing Benjamin Marcus; Serena Ng, the Edwin W. Rickert Professor of Economics; Assistant Professor of Italian Pier Mattia Tommasino; Gray Tuttle, the Leila Hadley Luce Professor of Modern Tibetan Studies; and Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology Maria Uriarte.