Eleven teaching faculty from across the university have been awarded Cornell’s highest honors for graduate and undergraduate teaching, Interim President Michael I. Kotlikoff announced Oct. 22.

The Stephen H. Weiss Teaching Awards honor teaching faculty in three categories who have a sustained record of commitment and excellence in the teaching and mentoring of undergraduate students.

The Provost Award for Teaching Excellence in Graduate and Professional Degree Programs honors faculty who excel in teaching and academic advising in programs that lead to an advanced degree at the master’s, Ph.D., D.V.M. and J.D. levels.

Both awards require nominations and letters of support from faculty and students as well as other documentation.

“These outstanding teachers and mentors have demonstrated exceptional dedication to their craft and given their time, energy and effort to help their students learn,” Kotlikoff said. “They are making a significant difference in the academic lives of our students, and we are grateful for their meaningful service.”

The Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellows are Mark Campbell, the John A. Mellowes ’60 Professor in Mechanical Engineering in Cornell Engineering (ENG); David Shmoys, the Laibe/Acheson Professor of Business Management & Leadership Studies in Cornell Engineering’s School of Operations Research and Information Engineering (ENG) and director of Cornell’s Center for Data Science for Enterprise and Society; and Aaron Wagner, professor of electrical and computer engineering (ENG).

Campbell focuses on creating experiential learning opportunities for engineering students, including building and launching satellites and competing in robotics competitions.

His nominators described how he revamped the required, junior-year MAE 3260 System Dynamics class, transforming the lab to have students study systems – like spacecraft or aircraft – in small groups before learning theory.

One nominator wrote that the class “is now considered one of the best courses in the department and college,” and a student nominator called the class a “well-oiled machine.”

“As our professor, he helped us engage with the subject matter through interactive course materials, supported our diverse styles of learning, and showed us through varied examples why we should find the topic applicable and exciting,” former students and teaching assistants wrote. “As our head instructor, he helped us bring our own ideas, passion and love for engaging students to the course, and he guided us in developing an even deeper grasp on the material and a greater ability to support all students.”

An expert in data science, mathematical modeling and optimization, Shmoys and a team of undergraduates helped solve combinatorial scheduling problems to keep the university open during the COVID-19 pandemic, as social distancing fundamentally changed classroom capacity on campus.

They also modeled how disease might spread on campus and what testing protocols would be appropriate.

A four-time winner of Cornell Engineering’s Teaching Excellence Award (1995, 1998, 2003, 2012), Shmoys involves undergraduates in everything he does, from research projects to solving high-stakes university problems. For the past 20 years, Shmoys has even scheduled all of the university’s final exams using integer programming.

“David’s truly unique ability to see things holistically and find synergies at a big picture level, combined with his profoundly heart-felt belief in his students and a tremendous force of personality, has led to the many students whose lives he has touched achieving tremendous things,” one of his nominators wrote.

Students and colleagues commended Aaron Wagner for his organization and enthusiasm in the classroom. In the past 10 years, he has created one course and redesigned another; both play a central role in the Electrical and Computer Engineering curriculum.

As associate director of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 2021-23, he modernized the curriculum, completed a course renumbering project and led an effort to change the academic actions process. The old process put students who were not in good academic standing on a leave of absence. Concerned that some at-risk students on leave might lose health insurance or live in unsafe homes off campus, he developed a system to put students “on hold.” At that point, the student can take a voluntary or health leave and is given support for getting back on track.

“Aaron’s revision to our academic actions process represents a major departure from the way things were done for many years,” one nominator said. “Beneath Aaron’s staid demeanor lies an agent for change.”

The Stephen H. Weiss Junior Fellows are Elisha Cohn, associate professor of literatures in English in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS); and Jesse Goldberg, professor of neurobiology and behavior (CAS).

Cohn, a scholar of Victorian novels, has developed four courses that attract science majors: Literature and Medicine; The Body as Text; Victorian Literature and Psychology; and Writing with Animals.

“Once inside the classroom,” a nominator wrote, “science students are regularly struck – and transformed – by the importance and relevance of humanistic approaches to their own fields of interest.”

Cohn draws students into lively discussions and provides inventive writing prompts that require high-level, complex thought.

“Professor Cohn’s class made me excited to walk to class in the snow at 8:30 a.m., three times a week,” a student nominator wrote. “I never wanted to miss a reading or a class, because each class meeting felt tremendously valuable and invigorated my intellectual curiosity.”

Goldberg balances instilling a sense of independence with unwavering support for the undergraduates in his classes and lab.

“Professor Goldberg is a wonderful instructor,” one former student wrote. “He understands the complexities that exist within getting down to the nitty gritty of neurobiology and skillfully guides his students to understanding, while accounting for their individual needs.”

Colleagues and students praised the “clarity of his thinking,” his “flair for similes” and his ability to inject humorous metaphors into his lectures to better communicate difficult concepts.

“I have found that the knowledge I learned about the brain has stayed with me because of his engaging teaching style,” a student nominator wrote.

The Stephen H. Weiss Provost’s Teaching Awards honor nontenured faculty. This year’s fellows are Florencia Ardón, study skills lecturer with the Learning Strategies Center; Kelly Delp, senior lecturer of mathematics (CAS); and Munther Younes, senior lecturer in the Department of Near Eastern Studies (CAS).

In her role as Neurodivergent Student Support Program manager, Ardón has created a welcoming community for neurodivergent students. As a lecturer, she empowers students with learning and self-management strategies to improve their academic success.

She makes her courses accessible to every student, allowing them to attend in person or via Zoom if they are sick, having a bad mental health day or are facing logistical challenges.

Her classes utilize active learning, integrating discussion with movement, meditation and tactile materials such as fidgets and personal whiteboards.

“These strategies are clearly effective,” one nominator wrote. “When I sat in on her class, I have rarely seen a class so engaged, both with in-class discussion as well as comment-driven discussion from students on Zoom.”

In the last academic year, Delp instructed 808 undergraduates, a mathematics department record. Nominators said she is generous with her time and committed to learning student names, even in large lectures.

“Professor Delp did a great job of adjusting her teaching to create an inclusive classroom environment where the people who needed more help felt comfortable asking questions but those who already had a math base were still engaged and did not feel bored,” a student nominator wrote.

Employing unorthodox teaching devices like 3D manipulatives in the classroom enables students to “hold the models, see the geometry, and draw on them with chalk to figure out the underlying mathematical questions,” one nominator wrote.

Not only focused on teaching undergraduates, Delp was instrumental in bolstering the training program for teaching assistants, helping them be better teachers and find jobs in academia.

Younes is a pioneer in Arabic language instruction, integrating both colloquial and literary Arabic into the curriculum. He has written textbooks using this integrative teaching model, and at least a dozen other colleges and universities are using his books and approach.

“Dr. Younes inspires students with no prior background to continue studying Arabic,” one nominator wrote. “He has devised a curriculum to provide a pathway for heritage speakers to improve their reading and writing abilities in Modern Standard Arabic or to pursue the study of Quranic (Classical) Arabic.”

Nominators said his courses strike a balance between the simple content students must learn as beginners and more advanced vocabulary. He creates a “friendly and safe environment in class,” encouraging students to participate and experiment with using the language in new ways.

The Provost Award for Teaching Excellence in Graduate and Professional Degree Programs recognizes individuals who have demonstrated a record of teaching excellence at the graduate level that spans at least the past five years. This year’s winners are Karen Jaime, associate professor in the Department of Performing and Media Arts and in the Latina/o Studies Program (CAS); David Lin, associate professor of neurobiology in the Department of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine; and Stephen Yale-Loehr, professor of immigration law practice and strategic director of the Path2Papers project in Cornell Law School.

Jaime demonstrates extraordinary care in leading discussions, providing feedback and supporting students’ well-being.

With a focus on performance studies and feminist, gender and sexuality studies, she embodies Cornell’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, one student nominator wrote.

Her graduate seminars “Minoritarian Aesthetics” and “Nightlife” introduce graduate students to a range of theories at the intersection of performance studies and queer of color critique.

“I cannot put to words what it means to me as a queer of color scholar to be able to engage with works, theory, and class discussion that tells of my scholarship, my passions, and (vitally) my life,” a student nominator wrote.

Jaime demonstrates best practices for running an equitable, caring and rigorous seminar, and takes graduate students seriously as professionals, helping them prepare for careers in academia.

“She will continue to inspire her graduate students, who will, in turn, transform the field,” one nominator wrote.

In 2015, Lin was instrumental in consolidating five small graduate fields based in the College of Veterinary Medicine into Biomedical and Biological Sciences.

Wrote one nominator: “Although it was a team effort, it was largely Dave’s leadership, creativity, diplomacy, and hard work that has made BBS a success.”

Lin established initiatives to foster dialogue and set expectations and standards, improving communication between graduate students and professors.

He also implemented practices to improve the recruitment and retention of under-represented minority students, which contributed to a four-fold increase in the number of applications from under-represented minority students to the Biomedical and Biological Sciences program during a seven-year period.

“His leadership of graduate programs at the Veterinary College has truly transformed the student experience,” one nominator wrote.

Outside of the classroom, Lin organizes collaborations with local elementary and high schools that allow graduate students to practice their science communication skills and engage the local community.

Yale-Loehr has taught immigration and asylum law to more than 500 students over more than 30 years.

“In my experience,” one former student wrote, “Professor Yale-Loehr has always conducted himself in a balanced, professional and deeply principled manner, with a clear sense of both the weight of his subject and the necessity of conveying it effectively to others – of engaging every voice in the room.”

Yale-Loehr created multiple law clinics to help people seeking asylum in the U.S., creating valuable learning experiences for legal scholars while filling urgent humanitarian needs.

Colleagues and former students called Yale-Loehr one of the most renowned immigrations experts in the U.S.

“He is, of course, a brilliant scholar and a titan in the legal community,” a former student wrote. “But to me, he will always be a supportive mentor whose lessons continue to guide me.”