Category: Carlson Award

  • Lisa Heldke, 2004 Carlson Award Winner, Philosophy Department

    Lisa Heldke, 2004 Carlson Award Winner, Philosophy Department

    Most of us can think back to a special teacher who touched us in a significant way. Perhaps, a teacher who gently guided you in the process of finding yourself. A teacher who changed the direction of your life and affected how you view the world. A teacher who influenced you in ways you are…

  • Cindy Johnson, 2003 Carlson Award Winner, Biology Department

    Cindy Johnson, 2003 Carlson Award Winner, Biology Department

    Every year at commencement, I am excited to hear the announcement of the Edgar M. Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching. The reason I find it so exciting is because I hear the voices of our students, quoted from their letters of nomination, expressing what it is they value in an outstanding teacher. This year will…

  • Max Hailperin, 2002 Carlson Award Winner, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics Department

    Max Hailperin, 2002 Carlson Award Winner, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Statistics Department

    One of the greatest pleasures I have had as a Carlson Award recipient is in reading the letters written on behalf of this year’s award nominees. It is truly inspiring to learn first-hand about the impact that the dedication and innovation of my colleagues has had on students. Letters written on behalf of this year’s…

  • Gretchen Hofmeister, 2001 Carlson Award Winner, Chemistry Department

    Gretchen Hofmeister, 2001 Carlson Award Winner, Chemistry Department

    Though this professor teaches what students describe as “one of the toughest and most dreaded” classes at Gustavus, high praise has streamed in from students with an astonishing variety of majors: studio art, biology, biochemistry, chemistry, criminal justice, economics, management, international management, life science teaching, history, philosophy, psychology, and political science. They praise her “inexhaustible…

  • Eric Eliason, 2000 Carlson Award Winner, English Department

    Eric Eliason, 2000 Carlson Award Winner, English Department

    The Edgar M. Carlson Award is presented each year at Commencement to a member of the faculty who has demonstrated exceptional skill and effectiveness as a teacher. With regard to these criteria, this year’s recipient has, shall we say, “hit the ball out of the park.” This year’s winner is described in the nomination letters…

  • Douglas Nimmo, 1999 Carlson Award Winner, Music Department

    Douglas Nimmo, 1999 Carlson Award Winner, Music Department

    Education is a partnership between students and teachers, a dance of minds and hearts, and so we pause in this graduation ceremony to present the Edgar M. Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching…. It has taken 29 years for someone whose teaching takes a different form to win, despite the results of that work being on…

  • Florence Amamoto, 1998 Carlson Award Winner, English Department

    Florence Amamoto, 1998 Carlson Award Winner, English Department

    The Edgar M. Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching is awarded each year to a member of the faculty who has demonstrated exceptional skill and effectiveness as a teacher. Though we are scholars and research is dear to our hearts and our minds, it is the personal intellectual relationship the professor has with students that we…

  • Mark Johnson, 1997 Carlson Award Winner, Geology Department

    Mark Johnson, 1997 Carlson Award Winner, Geology Department

    President Steuer, today we pause in the midst of honoring the Class of 1997 to present for the twenty-seventh time the Edgar M. Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching, selected by the previous recipients based on nominations from students, faculty and staff. The late physicist Richard Feynman once described for a young correspondent an ideal approach…

  • Christopher Gilbert, 1996 Carlson Award Winner, Political Science Department

    Christopher Gilbert, 1996 Carlson Award Winner, Political Science Department

    In deed and in truth the faculty at Gustavus Adolphus College is a community of highly educated persons dedicated to teaching. Year after year, class after class, students move to take their places in a glorious alumnae that remember and continue to praise the many fine teachers who have inspired them and have had an…

  • Ann Brady, 1995 Carlson Award Winner, English Department

    Ann Brady, 1995 Carlson Award Winner, English Department

    There are many capacities that students recognize in an excellent teacher-the ability to inspire, to communicate passionately about one’s discipline, to lead students onto roads less traveled, to attend creatively to the individual needs of students, to introduce them to the wonder and complexity of one’s own research, and above all to celebrate in the…