University Award for Excellence in Teaching
Charles Breunig, 1985
"Charles Breunig: Yours is the task of teaching Lawrentians the sweep of modern European history, from the Emerald Isle to the Urals, and from the great French Revolution to the Cold War. Beginning with those neatly printed outlines that adorn your chalkboards, you lay out with clarity and precision the sources of revolutions, the emergence of liberal ideals, the social transformations wrought by industrialism, and the complexities of politics within the Europeans state system. Yours is also the awesome responsibility of helping students fathom the unimaginable violence and inhumanity, manifest in war and totalitarian movements, that have put at risk the very foundations of Europe.
You bring to these tasks and responsibilities the best of the historian's craft; breadth of knowledge, respect for evidence, measured judgment, and concern for human values. Your students recognize and respect your commitment to these qualities, even as they appreciate your patient tutelage, high standards, and unflagging dedication to their growth as individuals and as citizens. As a consequence, your students not only learn their history, but they also come to know firsthand the care that must be taken if we are to unravel and make sense of a tangled past. Along the way, you have been known to detour from this high calling to afford students and colleagues alike the prized opportunity to listen, first with puzzlement and then with amused recognition, as you render select Wisconsin place names with full fidelity to their language of origin. But most of all, we value in your teaching that respect for human dignity which is indispensable for those who would do justice both to the historical record and to the present.
Charles, we are delighted to honor you today with the 1985 Excellent Teaching Award."
