Teaching Awards on Campus
To reflect the emphasis that Stanford puts on effective teaching, there are a number of teaching awards given out each year on campus. We have compiled a list of these awards at the university-wide and the School level; awards given by student groups are also included. We want to compile a complete list of all awards at all levels, including the department/program. If you have an award that you would like to add to this listing, please send us a note.
We are also working on a comprehensive list of the winners of these awards. In the meantime, we salute the many teaching award-winning faculty whose efforts inside and outside the classroom make such a difference for students.
| Name of Prize | Award Description | Award Inception |
|---|---|---|
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University Awards |
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| Walter J. Gores Award | The Walter J. Gores Awards recognize undergraduate and graduate teaching excellence. As the University's highest award for teaching, the Gores Award celebrates achievement in educational activities that include lecturing, tutoring, advising, and discussion leading. Ordinarily, awards are made each year to: (1) A senior faculty member (associate or full professor) or a senior lecturer, (2) A junior faculty member or member of the teaching staff, and (3) A teaching assistant (undergraduate or graduate student). | 1970-71 |
| Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Award | The Lloyd W. Dinkelspiel Awards recognize distinctive and exceptional contributions to undergraduate education or the quality of student life at Stanford. The contribution may be made for such activities as curriculum design, program development, advising excellence, residential education, committee leadership, or extracurricular education. Ordinarily, awards are made each year to (1) A faculty or staff member with ten or more years of service to Stanford, and (2) A faculty or staff member with less than ten years of service to Stanford. | 1959-60 |
| Hoagland Award Fund for Innovations in Undergraduate Teaching | Established in 2007 as a redesignation of the Hoagland Teaching Prize, the Hoagland Award Fund supports faculty in the creation of new learning materials, new pedagogical approaches, and/or the adaptation of established educational innovations that promise to contribute both to improved student learning and faculty’s enjoyment of teaching. | 2007 |
| Bass University Fellows | The Bass University Fellows in Undergraduate Education honor faculty who have made extraordinary contributions to the undergraduate experience. Robert Bass, a 1974 alumnus of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and his wife, Anne, are committed to “encouraging the kind of continued dedication to teaching undergraduates that those honored have demonstrated." University Fellows are chosen based on their commitment to undergraduate education with a focus on teaching. Faculty from all seven schools, as well as senior fellows in centers and institutions, are eligible. | 2002 |
|
Student Group Awards |
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| ASSU Teaching Award | This is a student-nominated teaching award. | 20+ years |
| Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Award | The prize recognizes not only excellence in teaching but also the ability to inspire personal and intellectual development beyond the classroom. This may include, but is not limited to, encouraging critical and analytical thinking, taking an active interest in students as individuals, influencing the way students think about the world, and engaging and valuing student ideas and perspectives. | 1991 |
| St. Clair Drake Award for Outstanding Teaching | Through student nominations, the Center for Black Community Services recognizes a faculty member who supports excellence in teaching. | ? |
| Asian American Center Faculty Award | The purpose of this award is to recognize the contributions of an outstanding professor who has represented the Asian American community at Stanford by enhancing undergraduate and graduate education or community. | ? |
|
School Awards |
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| Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching (H&S) | Award specifications are as follows: 1. Excellence in Graduate Education: Must be a faculty member, senior lecturer, or lecturer whose activities in support of graduate education are exemplary; 2. Achievements in Teaching, such as instituting a new undergraduate or graduate curricular reform: Must be faculty members, senior lecturers, or lecturers whose record of the past year shows particular accomplishments in teaching, defined broadly to include the classroom, laboratory, advising, programs leadership, etc.; 3. First Years of Teaching at Stanford (up to two winners): Must be junior faculty whose teaching deserves special recognition. | 1975 |
| Teaching Award (School of Education) | The Teaching Award is given in recognition for outstanding service as teacher and mentor to the students of the School of Education at Stanford University. | 1987 |
| MBA Distinguished Teaching Award (GSB) | Each year, GSB students participate in a long-standing and highly-regarded tradition of recognizing excellence in teaching by selecting a faculty member to receive the Distinguished Teaching Award. The award gives students the opportunity to formally honor and celebrate achievement in this critical area. Nominations are solicited from the entire GSB student body for professors and lecturers to receive the award. A selection committee of 5 students carefully weighs the number and quality of all the nominations received and represents the MBA student body in selecting the winner. The winner is announced at an official ceremony in May. | 1982 |
| Sloan Distinguished Teaching Award (GSB) | Sloan students acknowledge and appreciate distinguished teaching in the Sloan core classes. | 1996 |
| Ph.D. Distinguished Service Award (GSB) | In order to recognize exceptional efforts put forth by faculty, the PhD Faculty Distinguished Service Award will be given to a faculty member who, through teaching or advising, has made an exceptional contribution to the intellectual development of the Stanford GSB PhD community. | 1999 |
| John Bingham Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching (Law School) | The John B. Hurlbut Award for Excellence in Teaching was established in 1974 at a law alumni banquet held in his honor, and a portrait of Professor Hurlbut was presented to the Law School by the class of 1940. Since then the graduating class annually selects the recipient of the Hurlbut award, who addresses the class at its Commencement exercises. | 1974 |
| Tau Beta Pi Teaching Award (School of Engineering) | This award is a singular honor awarded to one professor, assistant professor, or associate professor from the School of Engineering each year in recognition of his or her dedication to teaching undergraduates. To be worthy of this award, a professor must go beyond simply explaining the material or getting midterms back on time. This sort of teacher is exceptional in front of the class, welcoming and useful during office hours, and devoted in all aspects of the learning process. | 1973 (?) |
| Excellence in Teaching (School of Earth Sciences) | This award was established in 1982 to acknowledge and recognize faculty's dedication to quality teaching. | 1982 |
| The Arthur L. Bloomfield Award in Recognition of Excellence in the Teaching of Clinical Medicine (Medical School) | In honor of Arthur L. Bloomfield, Chairman of the Department of Medicine from 1926 - 1954, a generous gift was made to the school by many of his friends, colleagues, and former students at Stanford. This award was established in recognition of Dr. Bloomfield's reputation as a gifted teacher, and eligible recipients are individuals from the Stanford faculty who excel as teachers in clinical medicine. The Award recipients (two to three each year, depending on the votes) are recognized at the Medical School Commencement Ceremony. | 1980 |
| The Kaiser Foundation Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching (Medical School) | The Medical School received in 1969 a generous gift from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation for the purpose of making awards annually to members of the faculty who are recognized for their excellence in clinical teaching. | 1969 |
| The Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Outstanding and Innovative Contributions to Medical Education (Medical School) (Note: This is not a teaching award per se, but the Medical School includes it on their list of Teaching Awards.) | The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation made a generous gift to support an annual award to a faculty member in the Medical School who has made innovative and outstanding contributions to medical education. | 1969 |
| The Kaiser Award for Excellence in Preclinical Teaching (Medical School) | The Medical School received in 1969 a generous gift from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation for the purpose of making awards annually to members of the faculty who are recognized for their excellence in preclinical teaching. | 1969 |
| The Lawrence H. Mathers Award in Recognition of Excellence in Teaching and Active Involvement in Medical Student Education (Medical School) | The award was established in honor of Lawrence H. Mathers, who contributed to the Stanford community as a student and faculty member from 1966 to 2002 and served for many years as the Chief of Human Anatomy. The Lawrence H. Mathers Award recognizes an individual (Deans, clinical faculty, adjunct faculty and administrators) at Stanford who interacts with preclinical students and exemplifies the values and accomplishments of Dr. Mathers' work and life – always available or makes extra time available to address student concerns and needs; arranges unique clinical experiences or practica; responds to student interests by initiating academic courses or extracurricular activities to meet unmet student needs. This award recognizes an exceptional commitment to teaching and mentoring of students inside and/or outside the classroom and also to inspiring and facilitating the personal and professional development of preclinical students. | 2007 |
| The Franklin G. Ebaugh Advising Award (Medical School) (Note: This is not a teaching award per se, but the Medical School includes it on their list of Teaching Awards.) | The Franklin G. Ebaugh, Jr. Advising Award is given to a faculty member who demonstrates outstanding dedication to advising medical students. The awardee embodies those qualities for which Frank Ebaugh was recognized and which made him an outstanding advisor being supportive, informative, understanding, and available. | 1980 |
| Dean's Office Award for Excellence in Teaching (School of Medicine) | This award was established by Dr. Julie Parsonnet and acknowledges faculty for their excellence in teaching. Awardees are selected based on "comment counts" in student course/clerkship evaluations; course directors can also nominate faculty from their courses. | 2006 |
| The Stanford University School of Medicine Award for Graduate Teaching (Medical School) | This award recognizes faculty whose teaching of graduate students is distinguished and especially valued by members of the Medical School faculty and the graduate students. |
2000 |
|
University Teaching Assistant Awards |
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| The Centennial Teaching Assistant Award Program | This annual award program acknowledges and celebrates the important role that teaching assistants play at Stanford. In 1989, the then Dean of Humanities and Sciences, Psychology Professor Ewart Thomas, launched the program as a part of Stanford’s Centennial Celebration in order to honor TAs who display unusual commitment to, and excellence in, teaching. Each year, half of the departments in H&S are eligible to select one to three TAs (depending on the number of TAs in the department) for the awards. The Schools of Earth Sciences and Engineering also participate in the program though their winners are chosen at the decanal level. | 1989 |
| Walter J. Gores Award | The Walter J. Gores Awards recognize undergraduate and graduate teaching excellence. As the University's highest award for teaching, the Gores Award celebrates achievement in educational activities that include lecturing, tutoring, advising, and discussion leading. Ordinarily, awards are made each year to: (1) A senior faculty member (associate or full professor) or a senior lecturer, (2) A junior faculty member or member of the teaching staff, and (3) A teaching assistant (undergraduate or graduate student). | 1970-71 |