Alison Baker Wins Provost's Award for Excellence

John Duval/May 2014. The Office of the Provost announced that the winner of the 2014 Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching is Alison Baker, Professor of Medieval and Classical Literature in the English and Foreign Languages (EFL) Department. She is the first faculty member in the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences (CLASS) to win the Teaching Award. 

Baker regularly teaches courses in myth, epic, and medieval literature. Whether drilling students on Middle English or assessing student learning in the Senior Capstone course, Baker is consistently beloved by her students. Baker firmly believes in the transformative power of oral performance and literacy, and asks her students to participate in that performance. Outside the classroom, Baker is a much-sought after adviser to literature majors, she serves as the faculty adviser for Sigma Tau Delta (English Honors Society), and manages EFL’s network of alumni. Outside of CPP, she gives public dramatic readings of Chaucer, coaches pronunciation of Middle English, trains teachers on how to teach readalouds and coordinates events to read to children at local schools.

The Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching is awarded to one professor every year who demonstrates outstanding success in student performance, innovative teaching methods, and active involvement in student learning outside the classroom. And while this award recognizes Baker’s years of successful pedagogy, Alison Baker also deserves recognition for her hard work in service to the department.