Students Honor Larry Temkin With Salgo Award

Students Honor Larry Temkin With Salgo Award

BY LIA UNRAU
Rice News Staff
May 7, 1998

Larry Temkin frequently gets letters from former students with such comments
as: "I took one of your classes 13 years ago and … if you ever wonder
whether any of this stuff ever sticks–it does."

Students have also told Temkin, professor of philosophy, they appreciate his
teaching in other ways–they have honored him with the 1998 Nicolas Salgo Distinguished
Teacher Award.

"It’s a tremendous honor," said Temkin. "It really makes you
feel good about what you do."

In addition to this year’s Salgo Award, over the years Temkin has received
the George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching three times, the George R. Brown
Prize for Excellence in Teaching twice, and the Phi Beta Kappa Teaching Prize
once.

"The pleasure of teaching at Rice is that you get great students,"
said Temkin, who has been teaching for 18 years. "These are quite literally
the future leaders of America, and so what keeps you going is the notion that
if you can reach the right student–and all it takes is to reach the right one–that
student might someday be in a position to really make a difference for the better
in this world. And, of course, at Rice there is the real possibility that one
might reach far more than one such student."

Created in 1966, the Salgo award was the first teaching award established at
Rice. The Noren-Salgo Foundation and Rice fund the award.

The current junior and senior class bestow the Salgo award upon one faculty
member, who also receives a $1,500 prize. The Salgo can only go to the same
faculty member twice, and there must be at least seven years between awards.

Temkin, who teaches ethics and moral theory, says of his teaching, "I
think ethics really matters. I’m interested in consciousness raising, I’m interested
in getting people to think, seriously, critically, philosophically about fundamental
moral and political issues, often for the first time."

Temkin believes that while their styles may be very different, most successful
teachers share certain qualities, such as enormous enthusiasm for their subject,
being knowledgeable about the topic, and caring about students on various levels.
"You have to truly care that they learn," he says.

"This award is a tremendous shot in the arm, a validation for a lot of
time, effort and hard work," Temkin says. "I don’t know if students
realize this, but awards like this really help future students, because they
rejuvenate you. You want to go in the next year and do it again, because you
really think you’re reaching the students, and making a difference in their
lives, I hope for the better."