NYU Shanghai Teaching Excellence Award

NYU Shanghai’s Mission Statement

In teaching, NYU Shanghai aspires to prepare its students for lives of discovery, satisfaction, and contribution. They will study with superb teachers who nurture their capacity for original, rigorous, and critical thinking, and with diverse and intellectually gifted classmates. They will master the skills of cross-cultural effectiveness in a community in which half are from China and the other half are from around the world.

NYU Shanghai Teaching Excellence Award

The TEA Award was established in 2021 to formally recognize faculty members who, through their teaching, reinforce NYU Shanghai’s mission and commitment to students, both within and beyond the classroom. Recipients of the award have exemplary teaching strategies and pedagogical approaches that are thoughtful, creative, and engaging.

Eligibility

All full-time faculty who have taught for at least two semesters at NYU Shanghai are eligible for the award. Faculty members are not eligible to receive the award more than once in any five-year period.

Award Criteria

Award recipients are able to:

  • Impact student learning and growth:
    • Nurture original, rigorous, critical thinking in students through classroom instruction and assignments.
    • Help students lead lives of discovery, satisfaction, and meaningful contribution.
    • Demonstrate enthusiasm for subject matter and to convey this enthusiasm to students.
    • Successfully develop students' mastery of a subject.
    • Mentor students beyond the classroom.
  • Create a diverse and inclusive classroom:
    • Communicate to a diverse group of students.
    • Display and cultivate intercultural competency in teaching settings.
  • Practice innovative teaching:
    • Create new and engaging course materials, assignments, and other related curricular development materials.
    • Develop new courses or significantly revise existing courses.
    • Incorporate technology in the classroom to enhance learning outcomes.
  • Practice self-reflective teaching:
    • Commit to ongoing professional development as it relates to teaching.
    • Demonstrate an effort to share teaching practices and innovations with the larger community.
Nomination Process

Nomination

The nomination process opens each fall semester and remains open through early spring. Both students and faculty are invited to submit their nominations. Student nominations should discuss specific ways the faculty member has impacted learning, development, and growth. Faculty nominating their colleagues should indicate how they have observed, benefited from, or experienced the nominee’s teaching. 

The NYU Shanghai TEA Nomination Form opens around December every year. 

TEA Nomination Form 

Award Committee

Each year the Provost forms a committee of four faculty members and two student representatives spanning various disciplines and majors. The committee reviews teaching materials submitted in support of the nominees, selects a set of finalists, and finally recommends awardees to the Provost.

Committee for AY 25/26

RoleNameArea
Faculty (Chair)Emiliano Catonini, Associate Professor of EconomicsEconomics
FacultyZhibin Chen, Assistant Professor of Engineering, NYU Shanghai; Global Network Assistant Professor, NYU
 		CSDSE
FacultyLinmin Zhang, Assistant Professor of Practice in NeuroscienceNeural Science
FacultyJohnson Mo, Assistant Professor of Practice in FinanceBusiness
StudentVictoria LiaoSenior 
StudentHans WangSophomore

2025-2026 Teaching Excellence Award Winners 

kangning huang

Huang Kangning 

Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies

xia ku

Ku Xia 

Senior Language Lecturer of Chinese

lihua xu

Xu Lihua 

Professor of Practice in Computer Science

Story about AY25/26 Award Winners

Finalists

  • Katie Aafjes-van Doorn, Associate Professor of Psychology
  • Bruno Abrahao, Assistant Professor of Information Systems and Business Analytics, NYU Shanghai; Global Network Assistant Professor, NYU
  • Kelly Donovan, Lecturer, English for Academic Purposes
  • Ilaf Elard, Associate Professor of Practice in Economics
  • Shuang Wen, Clinical Assistant Professor of History
  • Danyang Yu, Professor of Practice in Biology
Past Awards ArchivePast Awards ArchiveAward Ceremony HighlightsAward Ceremony Highlights 

Contact us

For questions regarding the overall process, please get in touch with the committee ( shanghai.teaching.excellence@nyu.edu).