Bender Teaching Award

Congratulations to Professor Takae Tsujioka, Teaching Assistant Professor in Japanese Language, recipient of the Bender Teaching Award for 2010. "This caught me by surprise but I'm delighted and deeply honored. Thank you very much for all your guidance and encouragement. I simply owe this to the warm and generous support of my wonderful colleagues and students," said Tsujioka sensei when she learned of receiving the award.

Bender Award recipients are selected by a committee of faculty and students based on the demonstrated use of pedagogically sound teaching practice, innovative teaching techniques, a high level of involvement and intellectual excitement by students in her classes, a strong commitment to student learning, and the setting of high academic standards and expectations for student achievement through challenging and rigorous assignments and examinations.

Intermediate Japanese (JAPN 003) student Xiaolong Jiang said, “She is extremely helpful. One of the best professors I have ever met in GW,” undoubtedly reflecting her involvement with students and the intellectual excitement she instills. We—colleagues and students—are privileged to have such a dedicated teacher in our midst.

Robert W. Kenny Award for Innovative Teaching

Professor Leo Hanami is the winner of the 2010 Robert W. Kenny Award for Innovative Teaching. The Kenny award is offered to an outstanding teacher in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, who has inspired students by teaching in creative, innovative ways as demonstrated in his course Love and Politics: The Tale of Genji.

Prof. Hanami accepted the award with humility. “I do not consider myself to be a 'special' teacher, only one who is dedicated to his students, the field and the integrity of our Japanese Program,” said Prof. Hanami. But those who have been in his class know exactly how special he is: former students describe him as an “amazing educator,” his lectures as “dynamic and engaging.” He is also well-known for his “fun” and “approachable” personality. We sincerely thank Prof. Hanami for doing what he does and being his amazing self!

Language Teaching Award

Shoko Hamano and Wakana Kikuchi-Cavanaugh, Japanese professors in the East Asian Languages and Literatures department, received the first Language Center Award for Innovations in Language Teaching on May 7, 2008. The award recognizes innovations in language teaching that inspire students' extraordinary engagement with a language and culture, while promoting effective language learning practices. Hamano and Kikuchi-Cavanaugh were honored for their online program, "Visualizing Japanese Grammar," which uses computer-generated animations to demonstrate and explain Japanese grammatical concepts that tend to be difficult for English-speaking Japanese learners to grasp.

From left to right, Ludmila Guslistova, Shoko Hamano, Wakana Kikuchi-Cavanaugh, Jocelyne Brant and Margaret Gonglewski, Director of the Language Center. Photo courtesy of the Language Center

Assistant Professor of French Jocelyne Brant also was honored for her integration of creative writing into upper-level French language courses, and Ludmila Guslistova, adjunct assistant professor of Russian, for her creative treatment of authentic language materials for her course, Readings in the Russian Press