Lukes and Grimes Awarded the 2020 Gitner Prize for Faculty Excellence
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[Updated October 3, 2021] Professor Igor Lukes, Professor of International Relations and History at the Pardee School, has been awarded the School’s 2020 Gerald and Deanne Gitner Family Prize for Faculty Excellence. This year, a special Gitner Faculty Prize is also being awarded to Professor William Grimes, Professor of International Relations and of Political Science and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Pardee School.
The Gitner Faculty Prize, established in 2015, is open to all full-time faculty and is awarded for excellence in advancing the mission of the school. A committee composed of past winners assists the Dean in selecting the winner from the nominations received.
Professor Igor Lukes is a past winner of the Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching, Boston University’s highest teaching award. His scholarly articles have been published in eleven countries and in such periodicals as Journal of Contemporary History, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, Diplomacy & Statecraft, Historie a vojenstvi, Studies in Intelligence, and Slavic Review. Read more about him here.
One group of nominating students wrote that he is “outstanding and inspiring in every way.” The nomination went on to say, “you have impacted all of our lives profoundly and we appreciate you more than you know!” Students nominating him point towards his sincerity, his humility, his caring for students, and his passion for History. Students nominating him describe his knowledge as “awesome,” and the impact of his teaching as transformational. One student describes him as a “wonderful and thoughtful professor who enjoys teaching and loves his students.”
Professor William Grimes has taught at Boston University since 1996. He previously served as chair of the Department of International Relations and as the first director of the BU Center for the Study of Asia. He is author, amongst others, of Unmaking the Japanese Miracle (2001) and of Currency and Contest in East Asia (2008). Read more about him here.
A Special Gitner Prize for Faculty Excellence is being awarded this year to Professor Grimes for what his faculty colleagues describe as his “herculean efforts to care for the students, staff, and faculty of the Pardee School in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.” As Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Bill Grimes has led the process of preparedness for remote teaching at the School. His faculty colleagues call for a special recognition of his “wisdom, compassion, patience, support, and reliability in a period of stress and uncertainty.”
Professors Lukes and Grimes were recognized in person during the Pardee School’s Class of 2020 Recognition Ceremony, held on October 3, 2021. This event brought the Pardee School community back together to finally celebrate last year’s graduates, as their in-person convocation had been delayed due to COVID-19.
Past winners of the Gitner Family Prize for Faculty Excellence include Assistant Professor of International Relations Noora Lori, Professor of International Relations and History William Keylor, Assistant Professor of International Relations Jeremy Menchik, Assistant Professor of International Relations Kaija Schilde, and Professor of the Practice of International Relations Ambassador Robert Loftis.