Six Yale faculty members honored for teaching excellence, commitment to students

Six members of the Yale faculty were recently named recipients of Yale College’s teaching prizes, which recognize exceptional undergraduate teaching.

The prizewinning teachers are Constantine Muravnik, a senior lecturer (II) of Slavic Languages and Literatures in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) and Language Program Coordinator for Russian; Alison Coleman, a lecturer in English (FAS); Paul Freedman, the Chester D. Tripp Professor of History (FAS); Scott Miller, Sterling Professor of Chemistry (FAS); Arielle Baskin-Sommers, a professor of psychology in FAS and of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine; and Millicent (Penny) Marcus, the Sarai Ribicoff Professor of Italian Studies (FAS). 

They were recognized during a reception at the Humanities Quadrangle on April 28. The prize winners’ current students were invited to attend.

“I am delighted to celebrate these teachers for their excellent work in the classroom and for their remarkable commitment to students,” said Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis. 

The citations for the prizewinners, as read by Lewis, follow: 

Constantine Muravnik, the Richard H. Brodhead ’68 Prize
Awarded for teaching excellence by instructional faculty

“Constantine Muravnik, Senior Lecturer (II) of Slavic Languages and Literatures and Language Program Coordinator for Russian, since you began teaching at Yale as a graduate student thirty-one years ago, you have exemplified why language learning is at the very root of the liberal arts. In your courses, your students progress through understanding and onward to mastery of Russian — and Serbo-Croatian — language and Russian literature and history, while deepening their appreciation for Russian culture and instilling a passion for unmediated experience. As one of your students wrote as far back as 1998, your ‘enthusiasm, skillful presentation of difficult concepts, and mastery of the witty cultural anecdote instilled in me a genuine interest in all the vagaries of Russian grammar, and a desire to travel to Russia for myself. Thank you.’

“Many students have come to know you as a fantastically hard-working, insightful, enthusiastic and kind teacher who makes ample time even on weekends to help explain away the mysteries of Russian, who is gentle and patient, listening to students and giving them time to speak and answer slowly without interruption until they request the word or two that they are grasping for, and who makes both the ‘completely lost’ and those ‘eager to move ahead’ comfortable in the same classroom. And in a time of great business and distraction, you make attentive time. Says one student, ‘He consistently made himself available to discuss any questions, whether they dealt with case declension or with colloquial speech. On the day before a test, a friend of mine in the class asked to meet with him to review the material, and he managed to find time on such short notice to go through the chapter with her for an hour and a half. On another occasion, hearing that I was struggling through Pushkin’s Queen of Spades, he lent me his own copy and also a Russian film that staged the text. I particularly appreciated his willingness to think over his explanations and sometimes come to the class the second day and revise what he had said previously.’ 

“You have created personalized experiences for your students, whether by providing targeted lessons on horses, bookbinding or archaeology, or with a ‘sly twinkle’ in your eye offering an amusing correction and explanation of the nuances of a mistaken usage, or leaving students who arrived in their first semester ignorant of Russian, confident in their ability to work in Russia two semesters later. 

“Many students testify that you are the best instructor they’ve ever had. They rank you highly, as did a student who says, ‘He is an enormously well-read, well-educated person the like of which is rare even at an institution as intellectually rich as Yale. He is an accomplished linguist but also a philosopher and thinker overflowing with ideas who constantly brings his own rich intellectual life to every class he teaches. He is a deeply serious man and a man of culture.’

“Kostya, for such inspiring, effective and superb teaching, I am pleased to award you the Richard H. Brodhead Prize.”

Alison Coleman, the Richard H. Brodhead ’68 Prize
Awarded for teaching excellence by instructional faculty

“Alison Coleman, Lecturer in English, although you have an ample portfolio directing special projects for Yale College and holding other positions at the university, you have maintained an exceptionally high standard of teaching since you began doing so in 2017. In English 114, one of the English Department’s foundational gateways to good research and writing, your courses have ranged from food culture to what, and who, makes up a family. As a tutor for the more than a century old ‘Daily Themes,’ you have read and advised on untold thousands of words of creative essay-writing. A common thread in your teaching—and in your work for the broader university as well—has been your careful and attentive devotion to the work and needs of students.

“‘Professor Coleman is one of the best professors I’ve had the pleasure to work with,’ says one student. That phrasing is important. Time and time again over the years, students praise your skill and enthusiasm for working with them. Working with them to create ‘extremely positive learning environments’ in which ‘no one felt unwelcome.’ Working with them to find ways to express themselves creatively in their writing while also maintaining solid arguments. Working with them to successfully adjust to life at Yale as first-years by permitting them to reflect and develop intellectually and personally in ways that made them feel at home here, despite initial fears about not being able to write to the Yale standard. You’ve even helped them harvest carrots.

“Why harvest carrots? It is only one of the ways you help create community, a family even, in the classroom, by being fully aware of how environment and shared experience can shape the common enterprise that is a course. At the Yale Farm, you held class sessions during which students picked root vegetables and which, as one enthusiastic student says, ‘allowed us students to build strong friendships and connections so that when we went to peer-review essays, we felt comfortable providing both positive and negative feedback.’ Another likewise mentions the striking amount of care and effort you invest into cultivating every detail of your teaching environment. For one class’s meeting place, you ‘chose a seminar room within the Peabody museum, unique in that half of it protrudes out of the rest of the museum like an overhang, lined with floor-to-ceiling glass panels that filled [the] space with natural light. Throughout the semester, she organized regular class visits to various places on campus meant to stimulate and expose us to different environments as we navigated both the class and our lives at Yale.’ It is not only the classroom that you adapt and innovate, but even the class structure: for instance, in your ‘Unplugged’ seminar you replaced the standard final essay with a weekly ‘unplugged’ activity, which students decided on their own, and which allowed them to develop habits, skills and interests ‘that will actually continue to influence [their lives] in a tangible way.’

“Alison, your effort and passion have inspired students to become educators themselves, you have become “one of the most influential mentors in [their lives],’ and as one of the students says, ‘Alison Coleman is just the best!’

“I agree, and I am pleased to award you the Richard H. Brodhead Prize.”

Paul Freedman, the Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize 
Awarded to any faculty member who over a long period of service has inspired a great number of students and consistently fostered the learning process both inside and outside the classroom

“Paul Freedman, Chester D. Tripp Professor of History, it is not without historical precedent that you find yourself at a ceremony like this one; when you arrived at Yale in 1997 you came with Vanderbilt University’s Nordhaus Teaching Prize in tow. And since arriving, your students have provided not a steady patter but a torrent of superlatives for your teaching in and outside the classroom and the life-changing effect you’ve had on them. I’ll quote just a few representative examples:

“‘Professor Freedman is one of the most caring and genuinely passionate professors I’ve ever seen.’

“‘The single most engaging and interesting professor I’ve ever had. Funny, kind, and cares about all of his students.’”

“’Professor Freedman is, without question, the most exceptional professor I have had during my time at Yale. Every class feels like a privilege; his depth of knowledge and passion for the subject make learning from him extraordinary. His devotion to his students is evident in his constant outreach and genuine thoughtfulness, both in and beyond the classroom.’

“The thoughtfulness and care you display has brought your students together at dinners you’ve planned, as a company of scholars and society of friends having what they say are ‘some of the most meaningful discussions’ they’ve had at Yale. They are evident when you personally get to know the students in your lectures, staying after class or meeting with them around the campus, following their academic and extracurricular activities and always eager to hear about their interests and ideas. You are quick with a recommendation, handy with a personal copy of a hard-to-find book, eager to help a student make an academic or professional connection with a colleague or friend.

“You have challenged your students’ preconceptions about the ivory tower. ‘He is down-to-earth, to-the-point, and honest, and he doesn’t take himself too seriously—even though he is qualified to do so.’ You’ve challenged their understanding of their own interests: “I have never enjoyed history, but I sought out every history class Professor Freedman teaches at Yale,” says one of your students. You’ve even challenged them to regain the spark of curiosity: ‘Professor Freedman’s class honestly reminded me of why I chose Yale and brought back my curiosity for all things– something I am so grateful for.’

“Paul, you have ceaselessly shined light on the Dark Ages and on your students since arriving at Yale. And beyond campus. One student mentions raising questions about Arianism and Donatism to his father and brother, only for them to enlighten him from their deep absorption in your online course on the early Middle Ages and express their jealousy at his being able to learn from the real deal.

“Paul, you are a beacon of scholarship, teaching and humanity in Yale College and I am very pleased to award you the Harwood F. Byrnes/Richard B. Sewall Teaching Prize.”

Scott Miller, the Dylan Hixon ’88 Prize
Awarded for teaching excellence in the natural sciences

“Scott Miller, Sterling Professor of Chemistry, teaching Organic Chemistry in such a way as to leave two decades of rave reviews is a remarkable achievement, indeed. Doing so in a personal, engaging and encouraging way that routinely leads to eruptions of laughter in a 9 a.m. lecture is something extraordinary. Even after your induction into the National Academy of Sciences in 2022, students continue to appreciate your grace and kindness, and the care you take in teaching, going ‘above and beyond in regard to ensuring that even the most complicated and challenging elements of the organic chemistry curriculum were explained in an interesting and engaging manner.’

“In a subject known to be challenging, it is in fact that very challenge that students appreciate in your courses. In thrilling lectures that capture both the mysticism and beauty of thermodynamics, and in state-of-the-field exams that can include novel research published in the very same week, you help students develop ‘perseverance and grit,’ while allowing your own love for Organic Chemistry shine through in an infectious way. One student says of your class, ‘I was genuinely excited to walk up Science Hill at 8:40 a.m. because I knew I was in for a treat of a lecture. Professor Miller always put each lecture in context, so we understood that the reactions were learned were being used by real chemists to solve real problems. Moreover, he frequently had entertaining, relevant anecdotes which added some much-needed levity to each class session. Of course, none of this means he compromised on having excellent clarity when explaining concepts or anticipating common questions with immediately understandable responses. By far the best STEM educator I’ve ever learned from.’ You do not rush through concepts but instead take the time to ensure comprehension and enthusiasm.

“Highlights mentioned by your students include using people as molecular models, moving them to indicate chemical interactions, funny stories about your early researching days, generally, making listeners feel okay about failing exams and exploding beakers, and always relating chemistry to medicine and the real world. Your lectures are described as keeping students coming back, with missing class not being an option due to your great sense of humor and ability to challenge and push students to greater understanding, the ‘very definition of an engaging speaker.’

“Outside of the classroom as well, students have benefited from your engaged and very well-attended office hours—which occasionally include field trips to NMR machines. When students ask questions of personal interest beyond the textbook, you link their curiosity to real-world examples and primary literature.

“At the end of every class, one student says, you ask ‘if we think what we’re learning is interesting. Invariably I say “yes,” and invariably I tell the truth.’ Scott, I concur with the opinion that you are indeed the GOAT (greatest of all time), and for that reason am exceptionally pleased to award you the Dylan Hixon Prize.”

Arielle Baskin-Sommers, the Lex Hixon ’63 Prize
Awarded for teaching excellence in the social sciences

“Arielle Baskin-Sommers, Professor of Psychology and of Psychiatry, since arriving at Yale in 2014, in your courses, in your advising, and in your lab you have provided what have been described as ‘far and away the most enjoying, personalized, challenging, and rewarding learning experiences’ of your students’ time at Yale. They cite the profound impression you have made as an extraordinary mentor on their academic and personal development.

“In your lectures, which are said to feel like seminars, you consistently teach course concepts in a simple and approachable way. Your concern for ensuring internalized mastery of what you teach is obvious. ‘Insanely organized,’ your lectures build on each other and lead students not only to learn the information, but also to apply it in a critical and reflective manner. You manage this while being supportive and approachable. Despite your preeminence, one student says, ‘I never once felt intimidated or embarrassed to ask questions when I didn’t understand the material.’ Students celebrate your approach to teaching in a way that is easily digestible and synthesizable, human and forward-looking, with everything organized to maximize student learning and minimize unnecessary stress.

“In even small classes it can be difficult to address student concerns expediently, but many students remark upon the great dispatch with which you engage outside of the classroom and incorporate feedback during courses. Students marvel that you are an ‘email ninja’ who always responds at any time of day, with great speed and at great length. You help your students prepare for exams with live review sessions online, answering questions up until the last minute. You consistently stay after class and offer copious feedback on work. One student says of this your practice: ‘She left helpful comments and suggestions on every assignment we turned in, from weekly assignments to the final paper.’ You actively seek feedback and discuss it in class, incorporating it and adjusting to make sure that all your students are learning as well and as much as they can.

“Students at Yale may expect to learn from outstanding faculty, but they have been inspired by the time you take to create a personal connection with them. You recommend papers to students based on their interests. One student whose research you directed notes your incredible patience teaching clinical measures, creating custom practice exercises and an individual plan to enhance and accelerate their learning in a way rarely found elsewhere. ‘She believed in me more than I believed in my own abilities.’ At least person was inspired to become a clinical psychologist on the strength of your personal engagement.

“You exemplify outstanding teaching at Yale. One of your students says it all: ‘Professor Baskin-Sommers is the kind of professor I came to yale for—a student-facing expert and humanitarian, whom I will always be proud to say I learned from.’ And despite all this, you manage to stay down to earth: ‘She even said hello to me when I ran into her in the dining hall!’ Arielle, I am very pleased to award you the Lex Hixon Prize.”

Millicent (Penny) Marcus, the Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize
Awarded for teaching excellence in the humanities 

“I’ll start with a quote. ‘Professor Marcus is a true lover of knowledge and education. Taking Italian Film was, in many ways, similar to watching a movie; it was always entertaining, provided important life lessons, and left its students wanting more. It left me a lot to think about. Professor Marcus is a brilliant scholar, a dedicated professor, and a kind and caring individual.’

“Millicent (Penny) Marcus, Sarai Ribicoff Professor of Italian Studies, these remarks are emblematic of your energy and passion for teaching, remarked upon by your students and colleagues. With respect to Italian film and culture, you’ve made aficionados of novices, and of adepts you’ve made masters—and even doctors, having directed dozens of doctoral dissertations. This is to say nothing of your role in introducing Italian language and Italy itself to students, since in 2005 you were at the heart of the effort to establish Yale’s study abroad program in Siena which has become the most desired program abroad that the university offers.

“One of the seams that gleams through your many courses is the careful attention — and time—you give to your students. They have noticed that your care for them shines through every aspect of your work —during extensive office hours, where you come to know them as full individuals and offer tailored advice, both academic and as it relates to their fuller lives. In lectures, you learn all your students’ names and ensure an environment in which STEM majors with no experience of Italian film, film classes, or Italian find themselves neither intimidated nor on the margin, but at the center of meaning making, and grateful for the experience. In seminars, you model forms of communication, feedback and learning that will benefit your students in all walks of life and show them, as one recent student says, ‘the ideal of what a literature seminar can be.’ In language classes, you are the Beatrice to students’ Dante, their guide to delights and glories of the Italian language and countryside.

“Your courses are cherished. And this is despite the substantial work they must perform in your courses. Of one of your superlatively evaluated courses one student remarks, ‘there were three papers and a final, but it’s worth it. I looked forward to this class every week. It was pure, absolute joy.’

“Penny, you are a gift to Yale and to your students, and it is a pure, absolute joy to award you the Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize.”