School of Arts and Sciences

Michael L. Walzer '56 Award for Teaching

The Michael L. Walzer '56 Award for Teaching is given annually to a tenure-track faculty member who combines superlative scholarship with inspired teaching.

The $2,500 award is presented annually at the April faculty meeting.

Faculty, staff, students, and alumni are invited to submit nominations. The recipient is selected by the Dean of Arts and Sciences upon the recommendation of a committee consisting of three faculty, including previous Teaching Prize recipients, in consultation with the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Decisions are based on nomination letters, teaching evaluations, Faculty Activity Reports and CVs. Nominations are due March 1 of each year.

2023 Recipient

Ben Rogers

W. Benjamin Rogers

Associate Professor of Physics

Nominator Comments

  • "Professor Rogers manages to understand the demographic of the course of mostly biology and/or pre-med students and still inspire interest in the subject and not discourage students with complex study material. The way he teaches is phenomenal."
  • "Ben took it upon himself to thoroughly revamp the curriculum starting from scratch and implemented a new set of labs that now constitute our introductory lab for pre-health students. This is a sustained teaching innovation that is going to benefit generations of pre-health students at Brandeis."
  • "He has not only helped me to fall in love with biology even further, but has offered me guidance towards my future. This is what sets him apart from other professors; even though he teaches large classes and has a busy schedule, he is willing to take the time to sit down and discuss a student’s future endeavors. As he said to me, that is his favorite part of the job."

Past Recipients

Year Recipient Department(s)
2022 Gregory Childs History
2021 Wangui Muigai History and African and African American Studies
2020 Hannah Muller History
2019 Naghmeh Sohrabi History
2018 Anita Hannig Anthropology
2017 Derron Wallace Education, Sociology
2016 Jasmine Johnson African and African American Studies; Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies
2015 Isaac Krauss Chemistry
2014 Xing Hang History
2013 Sara Shostak Sociology
2012 Christine Thomas Chemistry
2011 Tory Fair Fine Arts
2010 Maura Jane Farrelly American Studies
2009 Peter Kalb Fine Arts
2008 Wendy Cadge Sociology
2007 Adrianne Krstansky Theater Arts
2006 Donald Katz Psychology, Neuroscience
2005 Janet McIntosh Anthropology
2004 Derek Isaacowitz Psychology
2003 Can Erbil Economics
2002 ChaeRan Freeze Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
2001 Chad Brown Economics
2000 Michael Randall Romance and Comparative Literature
1999 Govind Sreenivasan History
1998 No prize awarded
1997 Sarah Lamb Anthropology
1996 Lynette Bosch Fine Arts
1995 Jane Kamensky History
1994 Neil Simister Biology
1993 Mary Campbell English and American Literature
1992 Thomas Pochapsky Chemistry
1991 Marc Brettler Near Eastern and Judaic Studies
1990 Philip Harper English and American Literature
1989 William Flesch English and American Literature
1988 Helena Michie English and American Literature
1987 Andreas Teuber Philosophy
1986 Joseph Cunningham Psychology
1985 James Merod English and American Literature
1984 Martha Morrison Classical Studies
1983 Jeffrey Abramson Politics
1982 Malcolm Watson Psychology