2021 Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence

Citation for Robin Ellis

Since joining the faculty in 2019, Professor Ellis has enriched both the curriculum and the classroom, introducing new courses and multidisciplinary approaches. She has developed and taught European Borderlands, Exile and Migration, and Minorities in Germany. In these courses, and others ranging from the introductory level to advanced seminars, she guides students skillfully through complex and demanding readings and considers the content through multiple lenses and media. In Spring 2022 will teach her new COLL 100 course Working Women, which investigates how gender is constructed in relation to labor and how gender intersects with other aspects of identity, such as race and class.

Students have responded very positively to her enthusiasm and teaching, citing her clear communication, her engagement with the material and with lively classroom discussions, her inclusive embrace of many student perspectives, and her responsiveness to student questions and interests. Their high esteem is shared by her faculty colleagues, and it is fitting that she now be recognized with the Arts & Sciences 2021 Faculty Award for Teaching Excellence.