On September 6, three professors were honored as the 2023-2024 winners of NYU Shanghai’s Teaching Excellence Award. The professors, Associate Professor of Chemistry and NYU Global Network Associate Professor William Glover, Associate Professor of Practice in Political Science Ivan Rasmussen, and Associate Professor of Practice in Finance Offer Shapir, were recommended by students and deans, and selected by a group of their peers. The three professors’ areas of expertise span the disciplines of science, social sciences, and finance, respectively, and their students, colleagues, and peers say they exemplify the best of NYU Shanghai’s inclusive and interactive teaching style.
At the awards ceremony, NYU Shanghai Provost Joanna Waley-Cohen highlighted the importance NYU Shanghai places on “teaching that really cultivates our students’ capacity for original, rigorous and critical thinking,” that can be effective cross-culturally, she said. “Keep in mind that learning can also be fun,” she added. “I think that’s really important.”
Right: Provost Joanna Waley-Cohen presenting the awards
We considered many aspects during the selection process," said Professor of Practice in Biology Yu Danyang, who led this year’s selection team, "including their impact on student learning, creating an inclusive classroom, and innovative and self-reflective teaching style."
NYU Shanghai students can tell you a lot about their professors– their teaching philosophies, grading habits, even their idiosyncrasies. A brief survey of twenty NYU students who have had class with or interacted with Professors Glover, Shapir, and Rasmussen shows that this year’s TEA winners share some common characteristics.
Engaging Teaching Style
Many college students struggle in their morning classes, especially if they’ve been up late the night before studying. But students say that this year’s TEA winning professors were able to find memorable ways to interact with their students and keep them alert and engaged, even in early morning classes.
That’s what NYU Shanghai alumni Shen Hengyuan ’20 recalls about Professor Glover. “His class is so attractive, that even if we have to get up at seven to get an early start to the campus, we don’t really feel sleepy in his class,” he says.
“His energy would wake me up,” says Li Lanxin ’24 of Professor Ivan Rasmussen. “I really feel like I could wake up in this class and get interested by his energy. I really appreciate that.”
“It’s not every prof that makes you want to get up for an 8:15 am Foundations of Finance course,” says Carson Decker ’26 about Professor Offer Shapir. “I think there’s something special about him. He made the journey of learning really exciting.”
“It’s a very interactive style,” he adds. “Some professors have a monotone way of teaching, [like] ‘I teach, you listen,’ and that’s the way it works. I think Offer interacts with his students and he encourages you to participate.”
Du Xuanyan ’27 says although Professor Glover was quite strict, she appreciated how he “performed” his class, “like giving us really interesting examples and giving us the scientific stories behind a research or an experiment we’re studying.”
This year’s TEA winners also found unique ways to introduce humor to the classroom, which kept their students laughing while learning.
Chemistry PhD student Raj Roy says Professor Glover’s way with words helps make class more interesting. “He has a unique sense of humor that makes learning quite enjoyable and engaging,” he says.
Deng Kexin ’24 remembers Professor Shapir’s kindness to students during a class he taught remotely during the pandemic. “He would draw smiley faces on students [on Zoom] whenever they answered correctly,” she recalls, laughing.
Kinsey Martindale ’24 remembers enjoying the Youtube videos Professor Rasmussen would play in class, including one song called ‘Made in China.’ “I was like this is an ‘only Professor Ivan’ moment,” she recalls. “Something funny, something comedic, but at the same time it connects you to the materials and connects you to him.”
Yerke Zhunusova ’27, who was a student in Professor Rasmussen’s class, says that students appreciate educators who go the extra mile in class. “I feel the students can really learn a lot from the professor that is not just boringly teaching something, but actually adds some spice into their courses,” she says.
Encouragement and Inclusivity
When students experienced difficulties, they were particularly appreciative of how Professors Glover, Rasmussen, and Shapir gave them encouragement.
“I’ll be honest, I struggled in that class- it’s a difficult course,” Carson Decker ’26 says, remembering the Foundations of Finance class he took with Professor Shapir. “There were a lot of times especially towards the final, when I’d go talk with him.” As the final approached, he remembers Professor Shapir telling the class that no matter what, he was ‘just an email away,’ something that exemplifies how he always made himself available to his students, he says. “It really does make you feel like he has your back as a professor.”
With NYU Shanghai students coming from a diverse range of educational backgrounds and cultures, professors often have to balance the varying needs of their students. It’s not always easy to meet every student at their level, but students say that this year’s winners were notable for making everyone feel comfortable in class.
Professor Glover’s students Shi Yuchen ’27 and Zhao Yingru ’27 remember him as taking efforts to make sure that everyone could keep up with the pace of learning. “I think it’s really tricky for an instructor to include students with all levels of background knowledge in one classroom,” he says, “but obviously Professor Glover did that very well,” says Shi, who was impressed with Professor Glover’s inclusive teaching style. “He showed us that some cutting-edge research are not so far from us, they can be done from very simple steps.”
Li Lanxin ’24 remembers that she was shy to speak directly to Professor Rasmussen during office hours, having come from a Chinese educational background where she didn’t have as many chances to speak one-on-one with her teachers. “I really appreciate that he offers a chance to meet individually, and [he] reminded us that this is mandatory, we have to meet with him,” she says. “I started to face this challenge,” and it got easier and even enjoyable, she says.
Lessons Beyond the Classroom
It’s so easy for students to get bogged down under the pressure of class assignments, grades, and exams. But students remember that this year’s TEA winners were able to remind their students of the big picture and provide them with some much-need perspective, sharing lessons that they’ll carry with them long after graduation.
Deng Kexin ’24 says Professor Shapir taught her a valuable lesson after a midterm exam which many students didn’t do well in. Professor Shapir encouraged everyone and told them about a time he, too, had done badly on an important exam. Then, she says, he added that “today he is still a proud dad and teaches at NYU Shanghai and he loves his job, so it’s not grades that define you but that you are doing what you love makes you who you are.”
Read more about the Teaching Excellence Award and past winners.
Watch what students had to say about their award-winning professors.