At the Commencement Exercises held at Appleton, Wisconsin, Sunday, June 13, 1999, the Young Teacher Award for 1999 was presented to Rebecca Epstein Matveyev, Slavic Department, Lawrence University.
The Citation
By Richard Warch, President of Lawrence University
Rebecca Matveyev, you came to Lawrence at a time when the challenges of teaching Russian were, here and elsewhere, formidable. Undaunted by those challenges, you have worked assiduously to introduce students to the language, literature, and culture of a country central to the past and future of the western and eastern worlds. Armed with new pedagogies and boundless energy, you have engaged your students in the oft frustrating yet exciting journey toward understanding viewpoints and ideas that appear duantingly unfamiliar. Not content merely to teach grammar, you would have your students understand Russina within its cultural contexts. Exposing your students to the many different manifestation of language - in literature, song, film, and everyday expressions - you make Russian come alive in your classroom.
Patience, rigor, and a sense of humor are just a few of the attributes that make you an excellent teacher. Although you yourself speak with a swiftness that leaves many of your colleagues in Main Hall dizzy, you never impose unrealistic expectations on your students. Colleagues attest to your skill at engaging students in thoughtful discussion and applaud your devotion to helping them read and think critically and write persuasively.
For their part, students speak of you in glowing terms as "a resourceful teacher, able to make the most difficult grammatical topics palatable." One considers your strongest point your "incredible enthusiasm for teaching," while another comments that your "care and concern for the well being of [your] students is unparalleled." Although your first love is teaching Russian, you have also made your mark as an instructor in Freshman Studies, where your infectious enthusiasm for learning has found another venue for expression and where your literary acumen has been used to good effect.
What student and some of your colleagues probably don't know - but what those in attendance at the recent Founder's Club Dinner can attest to - is that your are as well a gifted and accomplished comedienne. Indeed, your shtick on the vicissitudes of teaching Freshman Studies had some of our most generous donors rolling in the aisles and suggests that should you ever decide to give up teaching, you would have a bright future in cruise ships, vacation resorts, or - best of all - the Development Office.
Rebecca Matveyev, I am delighted to name you the 1999 winner of Lawrence's Young Teacher Award.
