Robert Berkhofer Receives Achievement Award in Teaching | | Western Michigan University
Robert Berkhofer Receives Achievement Award in Teaching
The WMU College of Arts and Sciences awarded Robert F. Berkhofer III a 2007 Faculty Achievement Award for Outstanding Teaching. He was honored with this distinction because of his success in three different areas of teaching: general education courses, advanced undergraduate instruction, and graduate instruction and mentoring. While it is not uncommon for a faculty member to excel in one of these areas, it is rare to stand out in all three. Since joining the Western History Department in 2001, Berkhofer, a specialist in medieval European history, has taught ten different courses, including a number of highly specialized graduate seminars.
Among the achievements noted by the nominators were Berkhofer’s innovative use of technology in the classroom, especially in making visual images available to the students. He was also commended for the high degree of success of his M.A. students, many of whom have completed their degrees in near record time, despite extensive foreign language requirements, and have gone on to prestigious Ph.D. programs.
Berkhofer was honored at a dinner hosted by Dean Thomas Kent on March 14, 2007. An award of $500 is placed at his disposal to use in support of teaching, research or creative activity, travel, or professional development. He will be spending the academic year 2007-08 on sabbatical, researching a project on forgeries in the Middle Ages.