University Award for Excellence in Teaching
Robert M. Rosenberg, 1987
"Bob Rosenberg, the excellence of your teaching has long been recognized in your classrooms and in the world beyond this institution. To Lawrence students, your clear, patient explanations of equations describing complex physiochemical phenomena are legendary. To citizens of Appleton and the Midwest, you are known widely as a deeply committed, articulate expositor of the physical and human consequence of nuclear warfare. To professors and students in this and other countries, your name is familiar as the author of highly acclaimed textbooks on physical chemistry and chemical thermodynamics.
Unfailingly courteous, you train students to think creatively and not to depend on rote memorization. Eschewing dry, 'cookbook' laboratories, you exhort neophytes to learn chemistry by designing their own experiments. Step-by-step you lead them from careful observation of things so familiar as a burning candle to the profundities of the associated physics and chemistry. Your gentle probing and encouragement help undergraduates to realize that they know more than they seem to and to see the truth in the adage that there are no stupid questions save those that remain unasked.
Robert Rosenberg, you serve as a model for us all. We are delighted to honor you today with the 1987 Excellent Teaching Award."