Monday, December 19, 2005

So I have a piece

of really extraordinarily good news: I have been chosen to receive one of the first ten annual Distinguished Faculty Awards at Columbia. I've known about this for a while, but seeing the public announcement really rubs it in (I'm not going to paste in the citation, it is embarrassingly lavish and certainly more than I deserve).

I am especially moved because of the award's emphasis on teaching. I really, really love everything to do with reading and writing and thinking about things (anyone who reads this blog regularly will have gathered that), but there is no doubt that the part of my life that's been both the most rewarding and the most ethically acceptable (reading and writing are delightfully decadent and self-pleasing rather than really public-spirited) is the teaching. I have been so fortunate in my students, there is no way even to begin to do justice to them: Columbia has been a really excellent home to me these last five years, and I want to take this occasion to thank all of the students who have particularly made that so much the case.

6 comments:

  1. Congrats! You certainly deserve it--you're a force of nature! It's funny, I was just saying to Steve this weekend, "I wish I could take a class taught by Jenny..."

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  2. Congratulations! You more than deserve it--and you certainly are an intellectual force of nature! CU is lucky to have you--and I was spectacularly lucky to be able to take your Jane Austen seminar. Everything they say in the press release is definitely true. You are the best and most inspiring teacher I have ever had, and I know that your other students feel the same way.

    :-)devin

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  3. Congratulations! I got the news from Mallick (ah, working in the department office and being a major means a lot of email) and am thrilled for you! Absolutely loved your class, and I can say with sincerity that you're one of the best professors I've had at Columbia.

    I'm also clearly a lurker, as I read your blog and never comment. This is Torie Atkinson, I took your Restoration Drama class in Fall of '04 for a major requirement and loved it. Tried to get into the Austen seminar, but no dice. Boo.

    Anyway, congratulations again--you very much deserve it.

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  4. Thoughtful and interesting blog.

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