Dear Members of the Colgate Community,
I write to solicit nominations for the Jerome Balmuth Award for Teaching. This award, endowed by Mark Siegel ’73, is named for the late Jerry Balmuth, Harry Emerson Fosdick Professor of philosophy and religion emeritus.
The Balmuth Award celebrates exceptional teaching at Colgate. The recognition is accompanied by a significant monetary prize, and the donor has provided support for an event honoring the awardee. The Balmuth awardee will also become a fellow of the Center for Learning, Teaching, and Research and will offer two teaching tables that explore the ideas of successful and transformative teaching.
The description of the Balmuth Award is as follows: "The prize will be awarded to a faculty member whose teaching is distinctively successful and transformative, recognizing that such distinction can be achieved through a broad spectrum of methodologies ranging from traditional to innovative." There have been twenty prior recipients: Marilyn Thie, Philosophy and Religion (2010); Adam Burnett, Geography (2011); Tony Aveni, Physics and Astronomy/Sociology and Anthropology (2012); Margaret Maurer, English and Creative Writing (2013); Doug Johnson, Psychological and Brain Sciences (2014); Karen Harpp, Earth and Environmental Geosciences (2015); Rhonda Levine, Sociology and Anthropology (2016); Frank Frey, Biology and Environmental Studies (2017); Lourdes Rojas-Paiewonsky, Romance Languages and Literatures/Africana and Latin American Studies and Chris Vecsey, Religion (2018); Peter Balakian, English and Creative Writing (2019); Harvey Sindima, Philosophy and Religion (2020); Nancy Ries, Anthropology and Peace and Conflict Studies (2021); and Greg Fargo, Head Coach of Women’s Ice Hockey and Instructor in Physical Education, Engda Hagos, Biology, and Mahadevi Ramakrishnan, Romance Languages and Literatures (2022); James (Eddie) Watkins, Biology, and Ephraim Woods, Chemistry (2023); Caroline (Carrie) Keating, Psychological and Brain Sciences (2024); and Amy Leventer, Earth and Environmental Geosciences (2025).
Letters of nomination are most useful in providing a detailed account of how the nominee’s teaching has been successful and transformational for our students. All nominations should be submitted through this Google form no later than Friday, March 13, 2026. If you have any questions about how to submit the nominations please reach out to Cassidy Rodman, Administrative Coordinator, at crodman@colgate.edu.
Sincerely,
Lesleigh Cushing
Provost and Dean of the Faculty
Mark S. Siegel University Professor in Religion and Jewish Studies