The Edgar M. Carlson Award for innovative teaching was established by the Board of Trustees of Gustavus Adolphus College to honor the long and outstanding period of leadership Dr. Carlson gave the college. In honor of Dr. Carlson, one teacher is recognized annually for outstanding teaching on this campus.
The Edgar M. Carlson Award for innovative teaching is made possible by an annual grant of $1500 from trustee and benefactor, Arnold J. Ryden.
The award this year goes to Professor John Kendall of the psychology department.
John Kendall does things in his lectures to make the students come out saying, “I like it.” John uses movies, exhibits, slides, daily newspaper columns and other material to give life to the ideas he is exploring with his students. Gustavus brags about having small classes, but introductory psychology continues to attract hordes, and John Kendall knows how to satisfy the hordes. Professor Kendall gives the lie to those who claim that lecturing is a worn out teaching technique.
John was the guiding force of the COSIP grant program which made funds available to teachers in several disciplines, funds spent specifically to improve the quality of classroom teaching. John Kendall and Charles Hamrum of the biology department have established animal behavior seminars and classes. Interdisciplinary studies and team-teaching are not mere slogans to John – he realizes these teaching techniques in practice.
Professor Kendall engages his students in the spirit of play. He runs an annual “Ping Pong Ball Creativity Contest”; he is the ringmaster of a circus of learning called “The Wistar Olympics,” an annual opportunity for students to exhibit their skills as animal trainers; he introduces a study of perception by inviting his students to participate in a contest called “What do you see in a line?”
John Kendall has an infectious interest in ideas; he like stories; he likes his students; he has a zest for life, for the life of a duck, the college, Esther’s Cafe, a high school student seeking help, for all manner of life. It is an honor to present to John Kendall the 1973 Edgar M. Carlson Award for innovative teaching.
Presented by Lawrence Owen
Associate Professor of English
1972 Recipient of the Edgar M. Carlson Award
Leave a Reply