University Award for Excellence in Teaching
Paul Cohen, 2008
"Paul Cohen, you came to Lawrence in 1985 as Assistant Professor of History after receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Your excellence as a faculty member was quickly recognized, and you were promoted to Associate Professor in 1991 and to Professor in 1999. You were also chosen for the Freshman Studies Teaching Award in 1999, and honored by appointment to the Patricia Hamar Boldt Chair in Liberal Studies in 2003. Your teaching success has been praised by both students and faculty. Each course you have taught, whether in History, Freshman Studies, or as part of the Gender Studies program, is described as an adventure in intellectual stimulation. You expect much of your students, and clearly have high standards. Time and again, students comment that you have helped them develop their intellectual abilities beyond what they thought they could achieve. Sometimes you accomplish this by presenting clear lectures that open up new areas of thought. At other times, your success is in leading discussions in which students must think analytically and articulate their thoughts carefully. Your patience in waiting for students to formulate and express their ideas, followed by making tactful suggestions for reworking these ideas, is a hallmark of your success in teaching. Your insistence that these ideas be expressed in careful, concise writing is legendary. At all times, your wit and sense of humor help make the process work. You are one of the professors whom students remember with fondness and gratitude, years after graduating from Lawrence.
For your intelligence, clarity, and ability to contribute so richly to the liberal education of our students, we are pleased to honor you today with the 2008 Award for Excellence in Teaching."
