Professor Marci Shore, Associate Professor of History and Director of Graduate Studies for the European and Russian Studies Master’s Program, who was awarded the Sidonie Miskimin Clauss Prize for teaching excellence in the humanities. She was one of six recipients for this year’s Yale College prizes for exceptional undergraduate teaching.
What Students Had to Say:
“Marci Shore, associate professor of history, your students have found your courses to be ‘life-changing’ and ‘riveting,’ changing the way they look at the world around them, and leaving them wanting to learn more. They are astounded by your ability to probe dense philosophical texts, weave together the ideas of great thinkers, and help students learn the material in an interactive and accessible way.
“One student says of you: ‘Marci Shore is a genius. I don’t use that word lightly. The deftness with which she understands some of the densest philosophical texts in history is deeply inspiring. She also grasps, in a way so few people do, the grand arcs of history.’
“You awaken in your students a love of ideas and guide them in the best ways to express their own — in writing and in seminar conversation. Another one of your students says, ‘She teaches you not only the major ideas that have shaped our world, but how they came into being, why they were so attractive at the time, and how they relate to each other. Most of all, she teaches you how to think for yourself … she left me with teachings that I will undoubtedly carry with me for the rest of my life.’
“Students admire you for your gift for pedagogy, and for your ability to explain the ‘human side of intellectual history’ side-by-side with the abstract. You somehow do this in a short period of time, too, says one student: ‘In 50 minutes, she was able to capture the essence of a thinker’s work, along with the way that history shaped his or her thought, and the way that that thought shaped history.’ Another says, ‘Her students walked out of her class with a remarkable feeling of intimacy with a thinker who had been entirely foreign less than an hour ago, and a feeling of excitement about a set of radically new ideas and novel, thrilling ways of viewing our world, its history, and the people in it.’
“For your engagement with students and your devotion to teaching, Yale College proudly awards the Sidonie Miskimin Clauss ‘75 Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Humanities to you, Professor Marci Shore.”