New York University

Gallatin Dean Susanne Wofford recently announced the creation of the Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching, as well as its three inaugural recipients: Professors Karen Hornick, Pat Rock, and Vasu Varadhan. The award, which will be bestowed annually on three Gallatin faculty members, recognizes those educators who have demonstrated their excellence through a sustained period of work at the School. Recipients are selected from nominations made by Gallatin faculty, staff, students, and alumni and based on criteria such as: a record of outstanding teaching effectiveness, both within and outside the classroom; the ability to inspire, promote, and sustain the intellectual development of students; a pedagogical approach that is innovative, intellectually rigorous, creative, and engaging; expert advising and mentoring skills; and contributions to developing or enhancing interdisciplinary syllabi or new curricula in their fields of study.

Carrying an honorarium of $4,000, the award will be given to one full-time faculty member and two part-time faculty members each year. Full-time faculty who have completed three years of teaching at Gallatin and part-time faculty who have completed five semesters of teaching at Gallatin are eligible. On May 12, 2009, the first recipients of this prize were honored at the School's graduation ceremony at Lincoln Center.

Professor Karen Hornick joined Gallatin's full-time faculty in 1992. She teaches courses that integrate the study of literature, media, philosophy, and cultural history. She has taught writing and interdisciplinary seminars on gender and feminist theory, modern cultural history, and popular culture theory. Hornick has published articles on the poetics of television, and is currently writing a book about serial narratives and popular aesthetics—its ideas grew out of discussions she has had with students in her culture classes. She has also served on the School's writing committee and as a faculty adviser to The Gallatin Review.

Professor Pat Rock's interests include medieval and Renaissance literature, Greek philosophy and literature, and American transcendentalism, particularly the work of Thoreau. In addition to teaching part time at Gallatin since 1988, she has taught at St. Thomas Aquinas College, General Theological Seminary, and at NYU's College of Arts and Science and Tisch School of the Arts. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant to Yale University, the Lane-Cooper Award for study abroad from NYU, and Gallatin's own Adviser of the Year Award and Newington-Cropsey Faculty Fellowship.

Professor Vasu Varadhan has been part of the Gallatin community for 11 years, both as a part-time faculty member and as a staff member in the School's Office of Academic Advising. Her teaching and research interests are in the areas of media studies; media, globalization and cultural identity; women in developing countries; and South Asian studies. She is also interested in religion and philosophy in ancient Indian texts, and their continued relevance in Indian society as well as in the South Asian diaspora. Varadhan is currently penning a memoir about her experiences growing up in India and America. Her earlier writing has appeared in two of India's national newspapers, The Hindu and The Indian Express.