Does Research Help Teaching?

Much of the discussion over the "liberal-arts university" that President Freedman describes comes down to a single question: what produces the best teaching? We thought we'd take that question to some of the College's best teachers.

A school that touts the primacy of teaching over other faculty endeavors, Dartmouth didn't formally recognize its most passionate pedants until 1978, when English Professor Noel Perrin wrote an essay for the Alumni Magazine. "Good teaching is simply taken for granted," Perrin lamented. "If I were an alumnus wanting to do something really useful for the College— something that would keep Dartmouth what it is —I wouldn't endow a professorship or give a piece of a building, or even set up a scholarship fund. I would create a teaching prize." Later that year Jerome Goldstein '54 took up the challenge by funding the Dartmouth Distinguished Teacher Award. Each year, using ballots and written comments from the graduating class, a committee of chaired professors honors a member of the regular teaching faculty. Half of the $ 1,000 prize is to be spent on something that enhances the winner's teaching. The boxes that appear over the next few pages are the result of conversations we had recently with some of the distinguished teachers. —Ed,