Henry L. Alder Prize for Excellence in Teaching

In 1999, Professor Henry Alder gave a gift to the UC Davis Foundation to establish an endowment to be known as The Henry L. Alder Graduate Fellowship in Mathematics. The Fund is to be used to provide support to mathematics graduate students at UC Davis through the Henry L. Alder Prize for Excellence in Teaching. This award — presented annually in Professor Alder's memory — is given each year as a prize to the graduate student deemed to be the top teacher among all graduate students in mathematics.

For whom is this award given?

This prize is given to a graduate student who has exemplified the best teaching performance in classes offered by the Department of Mathematics at UC Davis.

Who is eligible?

Any new or continuing student — domestic or international — who taught a class whereby student evaluations were given and reviewed by the Teaching Resource Center at UC Davis. Previous winners of this award are not eligible.

What is the award amount?

Typically $2000.00 is given to a recipient. In exceptional cases, two awards may be given.

What is the selection process?

Annually, the Faculty Representative Committee (FRC) appoints an Awards Committee, consisting of three faculty members from the Department of Mathematics, who will review potential recipients and make their recommendation to the Graduate Program Committee (GPC). The GPC will act on the committee's recommendation and communicate it to Graduate Studies. The winning candidate(s) will be notified shortly thereafter.

Procedures for selecting the recipient provided by Henry Alder

For each candidate, list the average scores for all classes taught by the candidate in the period under review. List these scores in descending order indications in parentheses the number of classes on which the average is based. Select the six to eight top-ranking candidates for a more detailed review of their evaluations by the entire committee. Review the candidate's score on pertinent other criteria, especially on "overall evaluations of the quality of the course," all student comments for the courses taught, faculty reports on the candidates performance. On the basis of evaluations, narrow the list of candidates to at most 3. Have every member of the committee independently rank the candidates. Put all the rankings on the blackboard. If they clearly indicate who is ranked first, the process is over; if not, further discussion might be needed to arrive at an agreement.

Past Recipients: Henry L. Alder Prize for Excellence in Teaching

  • 2000 (1st year) - Tyler Evans and Regina Parsons
  • 2001 - James Pierce
  • 2002 - Bradley Ballinger and Lan Hong
  • 2003 - Shawna Bynum
  • 2004 - Chris Jerdonek
  • 2005 - Alice Stevens
  • 2006 - Isaiah Lankham
  • 2007 - Eaman Fattouh
  • 2008 - Julie Blackwood
  • 2009 - Jia-Ming (Frank) Liou
  • 2010 - Sean O'Rourke
  • 2011 - Rohit Thomas
  • 2012 - Kristin Lui and Nam Lam
  • 2013 - Joohee Hong
  • 2014 - Edward Tavernetti
  • 2015 - Nathaniel Gallup and Christopher Westenberger
  • 2016 - Jacob Miller and Tynan Lazarus
  • 2017 - John Challenor
  • 2018 - Andrew Gallatin
  • 2019 - Katelyn Jarvis
  • 2020 - Andrew Alameda and Joseph Pappe
  • 2021 - Raymond Chou, Matthew Litman, and Jeff Nichols
  • 2022 - Sharon Huh, Eli Moore, Peyton Wood
  • 2023 - Colby Brown, Vincent Lovero, Trevor Oliveira-Smith