Lesley Sharp, Assistant Professor of Anthropology,
Honored with 2001 Emily Gregory Award for Excellence
in Teaching
New
York, N.Y., April 4, 2001 - Lesley Sharp, an assistant
professor of anthropology praised for igniting
the vision and curiosity of her students, was
honored Wednesday at the 27th Annual Emily Gregory
Award Dinner.
"Of
all the teachers I've had, mentors and academic
figures I've met, Professor Sharp embodies the
true spirit of the word 'teacher.' Not only can
she ignite conversation among a class of bleary-eyed
freshmen at 9 in the morning, but can also listen
to points of views and opinions objectively, interjecting
fact and opinion at exactly the right time," said
Zehra Mamdani '03, in her letter of nomination.
"The most exceptional aspect of being in a class
with her is the feeling that my classmates and
I are teachers as well. She has made me feel that
she has learned from me, just as I have learned
from her."
Sharp,
addressing the audience of 80 students, faculty
and administrators in Sulzberger Parlor, thanked
the McIntosh Activities Council Student/Faculty/Alumnae
Committee, which sponsored the award, and said
she is often asked by colleagues whether she is
overburdened by the demands of teaching at Barnard.
"Are
Barnard students demanding? Most certainly! Insistent?
Thank goodness, yes! The true joy of my work lies
here," Sharp wrote. "In turn, I often wonder this
- where else could one encounter so easily and
so readily such a vibrant array of talented young
women? And, further, who are so capable of nudging
a professor into expanding her own scholarly horizons,
or teaching her profound lessons about life or
the world-at-large? Are we, as professors, entitled
to this? Doubtful. Privileged? Certainly, yes.
What greater honor, then, is there than being
noticed and honored by Barnard's women? For this
I am truly grateful and deeply thankful."
Sharp
joined Barnard in 1994, after receiving her B.A.
from Brandeis University in 1978 and Ph.D. from
University of California in Berkeley in 1990.
Her area of research is medical anthropology,
including the symbolics of the body, cross-cultural
psychiatry, and medical ethics, and the psycho-social
dimensions of organ donation and transplantation;
religion and ritual; migration; gender; youth;
Africa, including Indian Ocean; and the U.S. She
is the author of The Possessed and the Dispossessed:
Spirits, Identity, and Power in a Madagascar Migrant
Town, published in 1993 by the University
of California Press, and numerous research papers,
including "The Commodification of the Body
and Its Parts" in The Annual Review of
Anthropology.
President
Judith Shapiro welcomed guests, noting "The Emily
Gregory Dinner is one of my favorite events at
Barnard because it recognizes the impact a truly
fine teacher can make on her students with an
award presented by the students themselves - who
else would know better." The program included
a history of the award prepared in PowerPoint
by Megan Romigh. Sharp was introduced by Elizabeth
Boylan, Provost, Dean of the Faculty and Professor
of Biological Sciences.
"Lesley,
the kind words about your teaching from your students
will, I am certain, stay with you always; they
also reverberate around our community, allowing
us to pause and reflect upon excellence in teaching,
upon the impact faculty have on the lives of their
students every day, a precious opportunity never
to be taken for granted," Boylan said.
A
yearly tradition since 1975, the award is named
after former Columbia University Professor Emily
Lovira Gregory, who came to Barnard and Columbia
in 1889. Gregory was the first woman ever to be
awarded the title of full professor at Columbia
University, and among the first women in the United
States to receive a doctorate in an era during
which women were largely excluded from the realm
of higher academia.
After
receiving her Ph.D. in Botany and teaching at
various universities including Smith, Bryn Mawr
and Harvard, Emily Gregory taught at Barnard initially
as an unpaid professor, intent on creating academic
opportunities for Barnard women that would equal
those given to the men students at Columbia College.
Before her death in 1897, she continued to attain
distinction in her professional career with her
appointment as the first woman ever to be named
to the American Society of Naturalists.
Former
recipients of the award, listed along with their
positions at the time of the award, include:
1975:
John Chambers, Assistant Professor of History
1976:
Inez Smith Reid, Associate Professor of Political
Science
1977:
Mirra Komarovsky, Professor Emeritus and Special
Lecturer of Sociology
1978:
Dennis Dalton, Associate Professor of Political
Science
1979: Donald D. Ritchie, Professor of Biological
Science
1980:
Philip V. Ammirato, Assistant Professor of Biological
Sciences
1981:
Bernice G. Segal, Professor of Chemistry
1982:
Margarita Ucelay, Professor Emeritus and Special
Lecturer of Spanish
1983:
Viviana Zelizer, Associate Professor of Sociology
1984:
Kenneth Janes, Professor of English 1985: Holland
Hendrx, Assistant Professor of Religion
1986:
Jeanette Roosevelt, Professor of Dance
1987:
Robert A. McCaughey, Professor of History, Vice-President
for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty
1988: Barry Ulanov, Professor Emeritus of English
1989:
Helene P. Foley, Associate Professor of Classics
1990:
Marco Pagnotta, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
1991: Herbert Sloan, Assistant Professor of
History
1992:
Peter M. Bower, Lecturer of Environmental Science
1993: Ramesh Deonaraine, Adjunct Assistant Professor
of Economics
1994:
Nancy Kline Piore, Senior Lecturer of English
1995: Lisa Gordis, Assistant Professor of English
1996:
Lisa S. Tiersten, Assistant Professor of History
1997:
Xiaobo Lu, Assistant Professor of Political
Science
1998:
Paula Loscocco, Assistant Professor of English
1999: Jeanne S. Poindexter, Assistant Professor
of Biological Sciences
2000: Kathryn Johnson, Assistant Professor of
History and Director of American Studies
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