Associate Professor of Geology Robert Reuss will receive the Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate's annual professor of the year award, which for the first time will be named in honor of Gerald Gill, the recently deceased history professor.
"[Reuss] is a really great professor - he really cares about his students," said junior geology major Miriam Gale, who nominated her professor for the first annual Dr. Gerald R. Gill Professor of the Year Award. "He will always drop anything to spend time with you and help you understand concepts."
Gale said she nominated Reuss on behalf of a number of students. "I saw the award online and I told the other people in the geology department," Gale said. "We all talked about what should be written" before Gale wrote her nomination essay, she said.
Reuss will receive the award on Friday at a ceremony in Hotung Café.
Senate Education Committee Chair Matt Shapanka explained that with this award, the Senate does not seek to recognize teachers for outstanding research but looks for professors who dedicate themselves to the classroom.
"We give out the professor of the year award every year to a professor who's a great teacher and mentor," said Shapanka, a junior. "We went with the professor who we thought most embodied the values of teaching and mentorship that the student body truly appreciates," he said.
The Senate voted in September to rename the award after Gill, who was long considered one of Tufts' most popular professors and was known for his openness to students. Gill passed away on July 26, 2007.
"After we learned that Professor Gill had died, the Senate voted unanimously to rename the award in honor of Professor Gerald Gill," Shapanka said.
The Senate received dozens of nominations for the award after advertising it on TuftsLife.com and directly to leaders of student groups. Members of the Senate's Education Committee and Executive Board reviewed the
applications.
"We didn't talk to any professors [and] we didn't talk to any students" about the applications, Shapanka said. The committee based its decision solely on the information in the
applications submitted.
Shapanka said Gale's essay made the strongest case. "Her application really spoke to us," he said. "She and other students really looked at [Reuss] as a teacher and mentor."
Gale told the Daily about how Reuss uses his guitar as an educational tool in his lectures.
"He writes these amazing songs and plays guitar during class so that we can memorize everything to a song," Gale said.
She added that Reuss has a general reputation among all of his students for being notably available and helpful.
