Fintz Award for Teaching Excellence (IAH Faculty)

The Fintz Award for Teaching Excellence in the Arts and Humanities recognizes outstanding faculty who in keeping with the goals of integrative studies seek to make students familiar with different ways of knowing and artistic expression and to assist them in developing critical thinking and effective communication skills.

Every year CISAH recognizes two IAH faculty members with the Fintz Award (one in IAH 201-210 and one in IAH 211-241). The Fintz Award is possible thanks to an endowment provided by Professor Ken Waltzer, former director of CISAH, to honor his father whose.

The selection of candidates, final recommendations made by the CIS-AH Advisory Committee, and award ceremony take place during the spring semester of each year. IAH faculty may receive the Fintz Awards only once every three years.

The following faculty are the 2008 award recipients:

Professor Aminda Smith (History) - IAH 204: Asia and the World

Professor Aminda M. Smith's course "IAH 204: Asia and the World" navigates, in a semester, a complex region of the world spanning over five hundred years. Her multidisciplinary approach uses historical texts, novels and a wide range of films to bring to life many of the issues and topics spanning Asia and globe. Especially effective is the development of critical ideas on democratic citizenship in the course of viewing emerging democracies in Asia in the context of democratic societies around the world. Smith's course received the most positive numerical ratings and was highly praised in the students' written commentaries. (Award Selection Committee)

Professor Jon Frey (Art and Art History) - IAH 221A: Text and Visual Culture in the Ancient Mediterranean

In selecting Professor Frey over other excellent nominees, members of the committee emphasized the course's rigorous writing component and especially its ambitious and thoughtful use of diverse materials, including epic poetry, political oratory of Cicero and Demosthenes, history, poetry and tragic drama from the ancient world, as well as films and plays from the twentieth century. Professor Frey's course -the committee reported- brilliantly fulfills the goals of CISAH by integrating the arts and humanities to provide a comprehensive learning experience for students.

The following faculty received honorable mentions in the 2008 competition:

Professor Jennifer Fay (English) - IAH 207: Literatures, Cultures, and Identities: Regarding Animals
Professor Jennifer Fay has developed an unique and interesting course for IAH 207 entitled "Literatures, Cultures, and Identities Regarding Animals" that she taught Fall Semester 2007. Student evaluation forms indicated how much the students were affected by this class and the very positive impact Dr. Fay's teaching had on them. Her expertise in film studies linked with very effective readings dealing with cultural aspects of human and animal interactions heightened student learning in important ways. (Award Selection Committee)

Professor Scot Yoder (RCAH) - IAH 206: Self, Society and Technology
Professor Scot D. Yoder has developed and refined his IAH 206: "Self, Society, and Technology" over a number of years. The course has attained an admirable balance of engaging presentation of content, active learning based on discussion, and development of critical thinking and communication abilities. Also noteworthy are Dr. Yoder's very effective mentoring of graduate assistants and his maintaining an atmosphere in which high academic standards, appropriate course discipline, and productive interaction with students based on mutual respect are attained to a degree that seems truly exceptional. Finally, many students believe that what they are learning is of lasting value. (Award Selection Committee)

Professor Dennis Preston (English) - IAH 231C: Roles of Language in Society
Although Professor Dennis Preston was not the winner, the selection committee was most impressed with the way in which Prof. Preston makes use of his truly exceptional learning to make his IAH 231C course a powerful and provocative learning experience. Professor Preston succeeds in leading his students to think about language—and thus society and themselves--in a new way.(Award Selection Committee)

Professor Jason Merrill (Linguistics and Languages) - IAH 241C: Understanding Eastern Europe Through Literature and Cinema
The selection committee was impressed with the way Professor Merrill’s course, IAH 241C: Understanding Eastern Europe through Literature and Cinema, fulfills the mission of CISAH by integrating insights from the arts and humanities to arouse and deepen students’ awareness of Eastern Europe, a part of the world about which many Americans know little.(Award Selection Committee)

Fintz award recipients in previous years