News
Chemistry professor Devin Imoto received the 2009 Harry W. Nerhood Teaching Excellence Award
Presentation of 2009 Harry W. Nerhood Teaching Excellence Award
by Dean of Faculty Susan Gotsch
Before we recognize our students for their scholarship and service, we pause for a moment to consider our faculty. For in honoring our students, we also celebrate the work of our faculty. Each year, a committee of peers selects a winner of the Harry W. Nerhood Teaching Excellence Award. Many faculty have been nominated over the years by students or other faculty for this award. The list of recipients still teaching at the college is impressive: McBride, Bergerson, Furman-Adams, Howard, Chabran, Woirol, Adams, O'Connor-Gomez, Decker, Lozano, Lagan, Marks, Swift, johnston, Geirola, pAddy, McEnaney, Morris, and Van Oosbree. So tonight, as we honor the new Nerhood winner, I feel that we also honor our entire faculty.
For you as students, we hope that your encounter with excellent teachers at Whittier College has contributed to your route to success. Excellent teaching translates into learning for students. Think back to your experiences with great teachers of all sorts—whether parents, a first-grade teacher, a piano teacher, or someone like Harry Nerhood.
For those of you who are new to the Whittier community, let me tell you a little bit about the award. The Harry W. Nerhood Teaching Excellence Award is probably the most important recognition a faculty member at Whittier can receive. It is named after a Whittier history professor who became a legendary figure. It was said of Professor Nerhood that if you came to the College you needed to take at least one of his classes, regardless of the topic, as the experience was virtually guaranteed to be special—excellent in some way regardless of your own interests.
The Nerhood Award is given for many reasons and many kinds of accomplishment, to people at different stages of their career. Sometimes it recognizes a whole career. Sometimes it recognizes incredible new energy and accomplishment. Sometimes it recognizes innovation. There are many reasons to give it. All those who have received it are humbled by the experience and feel that there are others who deserve it. Its core meaning is that it acknowledges something special—the best of what we do here in many manifestations.
Now on to tonight's recipient. He embodies the essential aspects of teaching and encouraging student learning that are worthy of this prestigious award:
- The setting of high standards
- The ability to stimulate both enthusiasm and creative thought
- Fairness in the evaluation of student work
- Creation of a quality environment for learning in and out of the classroom, and
- Readily available for dialog and counseling with students.
Comments made by his students and colleagues include:
"[Devotion to students is found in the] online chats with students before exams as well as lots of student interaction in his office."
"Gives extremely difficult exams, but rather than expressing frustration, students are inspired to work hard and remain positive about the course and their learning experience."
"An active director of undergraduate research, mentoring 2-4 students each year, working hard to equip [the] lab."
"A leader in bringing a global focus to our curriculum."
"Relates course materials and experiments to [students'] lives and the world around them."
"Gives until it hurts [to students and the College]; and at the same time..."
"Enthusiasm is evident in his joyful laugh [that] permeates the halls; " and
From a student now in graduate school: "set up a learning environment with his students in which creativity was fostered. . . . Once we learned how to be creative, he taught us how to be practical. . . . [and] I found a way to combine my love for chemistry with my longing to do something to address [environmental energy issues]."
"His course on AIDS is a shining example of how science and society intersect—a course in which students can engage in service learning."
As I read these comments, it was clear to me that tonight's winner is such a great teacher because he himself loves learning.
Please join me in congratulating an extraordinary teacher among extraordinary teachers, Professor of Chemistry, Devin Iimoto, the 2009 recipient of the Harry W. Nerhood Teaching Excellence Award.
