Announcing the 2021 Levitan Teaching Award Winners
 

The James A. and Ruth Levitan Teaching Award, given annually by the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, honors the superlative teachers across the School. About the award, Dean Nobles says, "This prize honors instructors in our School who have demonstrated outstanding success in teaching our undergraduate and graduate students. These great educators, who are nominated by students themselves, represent the very best academic leadership in the School."  

Please enjoy this gallery of the 2021 honorees, which includes comments from students who nominated them!
 

 

2021 Gallery
 

2021 | Daniel Clark ​
Teaching Assistant in Economics


“Daniel is a superb teacher. Generous with his time, patient and thorough in his explanations, he helped many students in our Ph.D. Microeconomics class – myself included – be confident about our ability to handle complex and advanced materials and perform well. His genuine interest in helping students during office hours, recitations, and beyond resulted in an extremely rewarding learning experience.”

2021 | Sara Ellison
Senior Lecturer in Economics


"Having Professor Ellison in 14.01 was a treat. She really knows how to make learning fun, and all of her lectures were so enjoyable. Although the material in the class was challenging, I felt that it prepared me immensely for my future economics classes. In addition, she balanced the difficult content with fun trivia every lecture that was accompanied by free t-shirts as a prize. When COVID-19 hit, she offered to make 14.01 t-shirts for everyone in the class and mail them to the home of any student who requested one. I really felt that she cared about our well-being and that she was there for us." 

 

2021 | Erik Lin-Greenberg
Assistant Professor of Political Science


"Erik joined MIT in the middle of the pandemic. He’s never met with any of his students in person. Yet he has demonstrated consistent empathy that goes above and beyond what teachers normally provide. He has reached out to me on numerous occasions to make sure that I’m doing okay, that I am on track to complete semester projects, and that other professors are not giving assignments during MIT-mandated breaks"

2021 | Masami Ikeda-Lamm   ​
Lecturer in Global Languages


“There were some days when we enjoyed the class so much and the way the content was taught that we were laughing and cooperating to the conversation in Japanese; I think it is difficult to achieve this balance of fun and learning and Prof. Ikeda definitively did achieve this balance! Whenever I had an issue or questions, she was very approachable and also comprehensive, and she stayed after class in case anybody had questions."

 

2021 | Maria Khotimsky ​
Senior Lecturer in Global Languages


“Prof. Khotimsky has been the most earnest, supporive, and effective HASS professor I have encountered at MIT. I took Russian I on a whim this last IAP, but was so compelled by her enthusiasm and teaching style that I made Russian II integral to my final semester at MIT this spring. She does everything that us students can hope for on paper: She is responsive, adaptive, supportive, but always pushing students to improve and explore in Russian grammar and culture. But even more important, she cares about us, and she does everything in her power to make these digital terms meaningful.”

 

2021 | Kenda Mutongi
Professor of History


“I knew that Professor Mutongi respected each of our opinions and reflections. To this day, every time I email or see Professor Mutongi in a Zoom call, she makes a point to message me privately or respond within less than a day. I am incredibly grateful to Professor Mutongi and know that the rest of the class feels similarly. My time at MIT would not have been the same without her.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related: Visit the Gallery of Past Winners of the Levitan Teaching Award