Mark Van Doren Award
The Mark Van Doren Award for Teaching has been awarded each year by the Academic Awards Committee of the CCSC with the aid of Academic Affairs since 1962. Not to be confused with the Great Teacher Award, or the Distinguished Columbia Faculty Award.
Named after the legendary English professor Mark Van Doren, the award recognizes outstanding teaching on the part of a faculty member the students of Columbia College. It is the highest teaching honor awarded by students of the college.
The award committee accepts nominations from the student body in the fall, and bases its decision on classroom observations.
The winner has traditionally been recognized along with the winner of the Lionel Trilling Book Award with a reception and awards ceremony at the end of the academic year.
The only professors to have won both the Van Doren and Trilling awards are Fritz Stern, Robert Murphy, Caroline Bynum, Wm. Theodore de Bary, and Carol Gluck.
Past Recipients
| Year | Recipient | Department |
| 2012 | Christia Mercer | Philosophy |
| 2011 | Holger Klein | Art History |
| 2010 | Jenny Davidson | English and Comparative Literature |
| 2009 | James Leighton | Chemistry |
| 2008 | Andrew Nathan | Political Science |
| 2007 | Samuel Moyn | History |
| 2006 | Elizabeth Blackmar | History |
| 2005 | Andreas Huyssen | Germanic Languages |
| 2004 | Gareth Williams | Classics |
| 2003 | Robert G. O’Meally | English and Comparative Literature |
| 2002 | Caroline Bynum | History |
| 2001 | Kathy Eden | English and Comparative Literature; Classics |
| 2000 | Michael Stanislawski | History |
| 1999 | Henry Pinkham | Mathematics |
| 1998 | Sidney Morgenbesser | Philosophy |
| 1997 | Steven Marcus | English and Comparative Literature |
| 1996 | Fritz Stern | History |
| 1995 | James Mirollo | English and Comparative Literature |
| 1994 | Michael Rosenthal | English and Comparative Literature |
| 1993 | Donald Hood | Psychology |
| 1992 | Richard Kuhns | Philosophy |
| 1991 | Joseph Rothschild | Political Science |
| 1990 | Walter Metzger | History |
| 1989 | Kenneth Jackson | History |
| 1988 | Wm. Theodore de Bary | East Asian Languages and Culture |
| 1987 | Carl Hovde | English and Comparative Literature |
| 1986 | Edward W. Tayler | English and Comparative Literature |
| 1985 | Ainslie T. Embree | History |
| 1984 | J. W. Smit | Germanic Languages |
| 1983 | Carol Gluck | Hisotry; East Asian Languages and Culture |
| 1982 | Charles Hamilton | Political Science |
| 1981 | Henry Graff | History |
| 1980 | Robert Belknap | Slavic Languages |
| 1979 | C. Lowell Harris | Economics |
| 1978 | Charles Dawson | Chemistry |
| 1977 | Robert Murphy | Anthropology |
| 1976 | Joseph Bauke | German |
| 1975 | Wallace Gray | English |
| 1974 | Karl-Ludwig Selig | German |
| 1973 | George Flynn | Chemistry |
| 1972 | Alan Westin | Public Law |
| 1971 | James Shenton | History |
| 1970 | Charles Frankel | Philosophy and Public Affairs |
| 1969 | Ronald Breslow | Chemistry; Biological Sciences |
| 1968 | Howard Davis | Art History |
| 1967 | Frederick Dupee | English |
| 1966 | Lionel Trilling | Engligh |
| 1965 | Dwight Miner | History |
| 1964 | Moses Hadas | Greek |
| 1963 | George Nobbe | |
| 1962 | Frank Tannenbaum | Director of University Seminars |
