Gooding, Zumbrunnen earn Phi Beta Kappa teaching awards

April 15th 2015 Simon Kuran
Awards
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Professors Diane Gooding (Psychology) and John Zumbrunnen (Political Science) have received 2015 Excellence in Teaching Awards from the Alpha of Wisconsin chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

Gooding Gooding

The two faculty members will be recognized at the 116th Annual Phi Beta Kappa Induction and Banquet April 24 at 4 p.m. in Union South's Varsity Hall.

Student nominator Finola Kane-Grade states, "Professor Gooding's passion for the course material, engagement with her students, strong intellect, and her belief in a rigorous undergraduate education for University of Wisconsin-Madison psychology students all contribute to the positive learning community she creates in the classroom."

David Canon, chair of the Department of Political Science, writes, "Professor Zumbrunnen is a master at getting students immersed and engaged in material dating back hundreds and thousands of years, making them see the connections between that material and the world around them today. Students do not mistake Zumbrunnen's entertaining style for an easy class. They know that in Zumbrunnen's classroom, they will work hard and think hard. John Zumbrunnen is the type of teacher who students remember decades later as exemplifying all that is best about their university education."

Zumbrunnen Zumbrunnen

Professor of Anthropology Sissel Schroeder, the director of the College of Letters & Science Honors Program, will also be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa as an honorary member at the ceremony.

President Patricia Rosenmeyer (Professor of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies) will preside over the initiation of 125 students invited to election in Phi Beta Kappa.

Phi Beta Kappa celebrates and advocates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Chapters invite for induction the most outstanding arts and sciences students at America's leading colleges and universities. ΦΒΚ stands for freedom of inquiry and expression, disciplinary rigor, breadth of intellectual perspective, the cultivation of skills of deliberation and ethical reflection, the pursuit of wisdom, and the application of the fruits of scholarship and research in practical life.