November 20, 2008

Purdue English professor honored as Indiana's top educator

Professor Robert Lamb teaching an honors course
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Robert Lamb, also a professor of American Studies who has been at Purdue for 17 years, will be recognized Thursday (Nov. 20) as the 2008 Indiana Professor of the Year. The annual award program, which takes place at noon at the Washington, D.C., Willard InterContinental, is administered by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.

Purdue holds the record with 10 winners since the award was created in 1987. The council recruits judges within higher education to choose finalists, after which a panel of Carnegie Foundation judges selects the winners based on "extraordinary dedication to undergraduate teaching." Nominations include testimonials from students, professors and administrators.

Robert Lamb
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"Many of my undergraduate students, like myself, come from working class or farming backgrounds, and many are the first members of their families to attend college," Lamb says. "I was fortunate in having had a few teachers who were committed to doing more, and without their efforts I would never have succeeded. When I came to Purdue, I made a conscious decision to be that type of teacher - never missing a class, teaching every class with all the energy I could muster and giving each student the extra individual attention necessary for their growth. Having that sort of faith in my students and their abilities challenges and empowers them, and watching as they succeed and live up to their potential is the most thrilling and rewarding experience I know."

Before coming to Purdue in 1991, Lamb taught in the history and literature program and Freshman Seminar Program at Harvard University. He earned his doctorate in the history of American civilization in 1988 and his master's degree in English and American literature in 1985, both from Harvard. His 1977 bachelor's degree in history and philosophy is from the University of Hartford, Conn.

Lamb is co-editor of "A Companion to American Fiction, 1865-1914," and he also has published more than 20 articles on American literature, including recent essays on Mark Twain, Langston Hughes, and teaching Herman Melville's "Moby Dick." His new book, "Art Matters: Hemingway, Craft, and the Creation of the Modern Short Story," will be published next year by Louisiana State University Press.

At Purdue he teaches a variety of courses that includes the honors classes for "Great American Books" and "19th-Century New England Literary Journeys." Lamb's other teaching awards include induction into Purdue's Book of Great Teachers in 2003 and the Purdue Teaching Academy in 1998. In 1998 he received Purdue's Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award. Lamb also was awarded the College of Liberal Arts Departmental Award for Educational Excellence in 1997 and has received 22 Department of English Excellence in Teaching Awards.

"Lamb has received every single department, college and university teaching prize for which he's been eligible," says Irwin Weiser, professor and head of the Department of English. "He has taught more than 25 courses, including 10 that he has developed and several more that he has redesigned. For the past 17 years at Purdue, his courses have averaged median ratings of 4.96 on a scale of 1-5.

"What is behind these numerous awards and exceptional evaluations is a dedication to teaching and students that can be seen in detailed course materials that Professor Lamb develops for his courses, such as a 20-page glossary of literary terms for his modern short story course and more than 100 pages of supplementary materials for his class on Mark Twain. He also has spent countless hours helping undergraduate students with their statements of purpose and writing samples for graduate school applications and assisting his graduate students with their dissertations and articles for publications."

Forty of his undergraduates have gone on to doctoral programs in English at such institutions as Harvard, Virginia, Stanford, Duke, Yale, Cambridge, Cornell, Chicago, University of Southern California and Illinois. Eighteen others have gone on to such law schools as Harvard, Syracuse, Chicago, Indiana and Minnesota.

Maria A. Windell, a 2002 Purdue alumna who earned her bachelor's degree in English and is now completing her doctorate at the University of Virginia, says Lamb is the reason she decided to pursue a graduate career. She took three of Lamb's undergraduate courses, and he continues to serve as an inspiration for her.

"I have been fortunate to take classes with several extraordinary teachers, none of whom have come close to Professor Lamb's mastery of material, skill of presenting that material and ability to make that material inspiring."

Lamb also is known for his enthusiastic teaching style.

"In a time where college students look to technology for most of their entertainment, Professor Lamb brings to life many of the greatest American literary works of the 19th and 20th centuries," says Jenny R. Wright, who graduated with a bachelor's degree in 2002 and is an attorney with Ice Miller LLP in Indianapolis. "Every seat in every class that he teaches is full. Usually, he has to bring extra seats into the classroom because he hates to turn away any student who wishes to take his class."

Four professors in the College of Liberal Arts previously have been named Indiana Professor of the Year, including historians Randy Roberts and Michael Morrison and the late Larry Axel in philosophy. Purdue's six other recipients represent departments in engineering, physics, medicinal chemistry, entomology, chemistry and biological sciences. 

Writer: Amy Patterson Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Sources:   Robert Lamb, (765) 494-3776, lambr@purdue.edu

Irwin Weiser, (765) 494-6478, iweiser@purdue.edu

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

PHOTO CAPTION:

Professor Robert Lamb, who was named the 2008 Indiana Professor of the Year on Thursday (Nov. 20), teaches an honors course about the American short story. The award, which is the only national ranking specifically designed to recognize excellence in undergraduate teaching and mentoring, is given by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. (Purdue News Service photo/Andrew Hancock)

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