Professors Randi Kristensen and Phil Troutman were recognized for excellence in teaching and mentoring by the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences this spring.
Kristensen won the 2022 Columbian Prize for Teaching and Mentoring Advanced Undergraduate Students, awarded to a regular, full-time faculty member in CCAS who demonstrates excellence in the teaching and mentoring of these students. She serves as both a mentor in the Posse Scholars program, in support of a group of ten GW students from Atlanta, and as a Faculty in Residence – first in Thurston Hall and then in One Wash. Moreover, she serves undergraduate students of color more informally inside and outside her classroom.
Referring to her work with Posse, Kristensen noted that she saw herself as a kind of “campus guardian angel who exists to build (students’) agency in getting things done.”
Troutman was awarded the Robert W. Kenny Prize for Innovation in Teaching of Introductory Courses. Over the last several years, he has taught GW-themed University Writing courses, including “Student Protest at GW” and “GW History,” in which students use the GW library’s Special Collections to write about aspects of the rich 200-plus year history of the university.
When the pandemic struck and the archive closed for a while, he adapted the course, but in a way that proved innovative in how it kept students on their writing schedule and engaged not only with their project but also with those of their peers. In what Troutman calls a “sketch” – not unlike what artists initially do – students produced short research reports during the second half of the semester on different primary sources they used.
Whether it was a GW administrator’s letter, a newspaper article in the Hatchet, or a flier from a student organization, students were charged with identifying the most contradictory evidence they could find from their archival work, summarize it fairly, and then let readers and listeners know what questions they have. The assignment encouraged comradery around the research process and the social nature of writing – that we are part of a community when we research and write, constantly bouncing ideas off of each other as we explore the past.