This was a pleasant surprise with which to begin my day: students from the student government came to my classroom to give me this award. And they brought cookies for the whole class!

So many of my colleagues are excellent teachers. At a small school like this most of us, and probably all of us in the humanities, are in it because we love teaching students. Any of them could have been given this award. I’m grateful to those who thought I was worth nominating, and I’m especially grateful for the way they’ve committed to learning the “useless” things I teach. (I am thinking of [Abraham Flexner’s essay](Source: Institute for Advanced Study) here)

A hand holds a plaque awarded by the Augustana Student Association for the 2025-2026 Faculty of the Year in Humanities, positioned in front of a bookshelf.