Fortin Award Recipients
Award Recipients
2024
Dr. Randy Browne
Professor
Department of History
Director, First Year Seminar
Faculty Profile
Selection Committee Statement:
"Since joining Xavier in 2012, Prof. Browne has written two books. Surviving Slavery in the British Caribbean (2017) has been recognized with two prestigious awards, and the forthcoming The Driver’s Story: Labor and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery further expands his recognized expertise in his field. His honors include a fellowship from the Huntington Library and an NEH Post-Doctoral Fellowship. As a teacher, Prof. Browne is acclaimed by both students and peers for creating a rigorous yet supportive classroom, and for his energy and enthusiasm. He currently directs Xavier’s First-Year Seminar program, and has himself taught a First-Year Seminar on his area of specialty, slave rebellions in the Atlantic world. Prof. Browne’s teaching and research are thus very well integrated, and in both areas his interests harmonize with Xavier’s emphasis on justice and service."
2023
Dr. Kristen Renzi
Associate Professor
Department of English
Chair, Department of Race, Intersectionality, Gender, and Sociology
Faculty Profile
Selection Committee Statement:
This year’s recipient of the Roger A. Fortin Award for Outstanding Teaching and Scholarship in the Humanities is Associate Professor Kristen Renzi of the Department of English. Prof. Renzi joined Xavier’s faculty in 2013. Since then, she has been extraordinarily active in her teaching and scholarship. Her reputation as a caring and patient teacher is well known in the College. Most notably, Xavier students praise her teaching for introducing them to the life of the mind. One student marveled: “Dr. Renzi challenged me to think about the world in a new and exciting way.” Another observed: “She is awesome. Respectful, kind, patient, and makes us really think critically about what we were assigned to read.” Her scholarly activity has likewise been remarkably productive; she has published three books (including two poetry collections) and over a dozen essays and articles. In both her scholarship and her teaching, she has proven to be a keen listener, ever open to the perspectives and voices of the outsider or misfit. Besides teaching a wide range of courses for the English Department, Prof. Renzi help found and currently chairs the Department of Race, Gender, Intersectionality, and Sociology (RIGS). In all respects, Professor Renzi is an exemplary teacher-scholar.
2022
Dr. Steven Frankel
Professor
Department of Philosophy
Faculty Profile
Selection Committee Statement:
Professor Frankel arrived at Xavier in 2003, after teaching four years at the American University of Paris, where he won the Board of Trustees Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001. In 2017, Professor Frankel received the Teacher of the Year award at Xavier. His excellence as a teacher, in short, has been recognized far and wide. In the words of one student, “your philosophy class completely changed my outlook on life.” One of the original faculty members involved with the PPP program, Professor Frankel also developed foreign study programs in Paris and in Israel. More recently, he has served as founding director of the Smith Scholars Program. His extensive scholarship, focusing mainly on the role of religion in early modern political thought, has received international recognition. An exemplary teacher and scholar and an outspoken defender of the humanities, Professor Frankel has been selfless in his dedication to his students, to the University, and to a philosophical life.
2021
Dr. E. Paul Colella
Professor
Department of Philosophy
Selection Committee Statement:
This year’s recipient of the Roger A. Fortin Award for Outstanding Teaching and Scholarship in the Humanities is Professor E. Paul Colella of the Department of Philosophy. Professor Colella joined Xavier’s faculty in 1979. Since then, his teaching has been nothing short of legendary, year after year, with remarkable consistency. Generations of Xavier students have praised his classes as inspiring and life-changing experiences. A past winner of the Teacher of the Year award, Professor Colella also pioneered innovative pedagogical techniques, team-teaching with Professor Sandy Korros of the History Department, and developing tutorials for his honors classes. He is also the founding director of the Philosophy, Politics and the Public Program, former director of the University Scholars Program, and founder of the Rome Summer Program. His scholarly activity across the decades has focused on Classical American philosophy, especially William James and C. I. Lewis, as well as on Italian philosophy, contributing important essays on Italian pragmatism. A paradigm of the teacher-scholar, Professor Colella has been, in the words of one student, “a great man and a true inspiration….a guiding light to me and many other Xavier students.”
2020
Dr. Timothy Quinn
Professor and Chair
Department of Philosophy
Selection Committee Statement:
A member of Xavier’s Philosophy Department since 1987, Timothy Sean Quinn is widely regarded as one of the most dedicated and supportive faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences. A previous winner of the Bishop Fenwick Award for teaching and the Student Athlete Appreciation Award, Dr. Quinn is at home teaching both upper-level courses for Philosophy majors and students in Xavier’s honors programs, and required Philosophy courses for the undergraduate Core. A former director of the Honors A.B. program, he has also directed numerous HAB and Philosophy major theses, and currently teaches regularly in Xavier’s studies abroad program in Israel. Dr. Quinn’s scholarship is equally wide-ranging, with publications and conference papers on Aristotle, Kant, Tocqueville, Descartes, Heidegger, Ernst Jünger, and most recently, the eighteenth-century Jewish philosopher Solomon Maimon. As a translator of both philosophical texts and poetry, his publications include Martin Heidegger Ernst Jünger: Correspondence 1949-1975. Currently he is at work on A History of Catholic Political Philosophy (with his colleague, Dr. Michael J. Sweeney), and Epicureans All: The Last Essays of Solomon Maimon. A teacher-scholar who has succeeded brilliantly in uniting his intellectual and pedagogical pursuits, Dr. Quinn, in his own words, is truly “an amateur, namely, a lover, who fell in love with the life of the mind decades ago, and who is grateful for having had the chance to share it with others over the years, through teaching and writing.”
2019
Dr. Kathleen Smythe
Professor and Chair
Department of History
Selection Committee Statement:
Kathleen Smythe is a deeply committed teacher who offers diverse courses, ranging from first-year seminars on Bicycling the Bioregion and lower-level African History courses, to upper level classes on the History of Agriculture and on Sustainability Development. She integrates principles of mindfulness into her teaching to deliver transformative educational experiences for her students. Professor Smythe is also a very accomplished scholar. In addition to over a dozen articles and countless public presentations, she is the author of two books, Fipa Families: Reproduction and Catholic Evangelization in Nkansi, Ufipa, 1880-1960 (Heinemann, 2006) and the influential Africa’s Past, Our Future (Indiana UP, 2015). She combines her historical and ecological interests in her forthcoming co-authored book on Bicycling through Paradise: The Cincinnati Bioregion, its History, and its Back Roads. Students, colleagues, and professional peers unanimously value Kathleen Smythe as an outstanding teacher-scholar and a most deserving recipient of the 2019 Fortin Award.
2018
Dr. Norman Finkelstein
Professor
Department of English
- Faculty Profile
- Acceptance Remarks
Selection Committee Statement:
Norman Finkelstein is an inspirational teacher, a prodigious scholar, and an internationally renowned poet. In his teaching he serves as guide, commentator, resource, and provocateur, modeling for students his passionate engagement with literature. As a scholar, he has written several groundbreaking books and dozens of influential articles and chapters on American poetry and Jewish literature. He is also a prolific poet: author of a dozen volumes of poetry and another 100+ published poems, and the subject of articles, panels, and a forthcoming book on his work. An expert in his field praised Norman Finkelstein as "one of the defining Jewish American poets of the late 20 th and early 21 st century, as well as one of the most significant scholars of his generation." His commitment to producing important scholarship while remaining devoted to the classroom exemplifies a true teacher-scholar.
2017
Dr. Graley Herren
Professor
Department of English
Selection Committee Statement:
Graley Herren is the epitome of the teacher-scholar who is both consistently challenging his students and is exceptionally active in the field of English-language literature. In his courses he transcends traditional pedagogical approaches and engages the whole of the class. His recurring stellar course evaluations characterize his teaching as enthusiastic and "phenomenal," noting that his "insights are enlightening, his questions are thought provoking, his grading is helpful, his presence is not intimidating, and the culture of his classroom is beyond mutually respectful." In his research, his monograph on the work of Samuel Beckett and his publications on Bob Dylan and Don DeLillo, among others, represent his prolific activity as an internationally recognized scholar in his field. In his own words, literature is "capable of expressing deep truths, fostering empathy, and inspiring epiphanies." All told, his teaching and scholarship serve as the embodiment of the creative, playful, provocative, and innovative spirit characteristic of his work in the classroom and beyond.
2016
Dr. Christopher Pramuk
Associate Professor
Department of Theology
Selection Committee Statement:
Professor Pramuk is a tireless writer and teacher who articulates his welcoming and warm-hearted understanding of the Catholic faith through books, articles, presentations, and student retreats, as well as in the classroom and in his personal life. He is one of Xavier's shining examples of the integration of faith, scholarship, and education.
Pramuk's scholarship on Thomas Merton has won accolades from his peers, and his award-winning essays reach a national audience. In Hope Sings, So Beautiful: Graced Encounters Across the Color Line, Pramuk's theological, invitational approach to deep-seated problems of racism aims at no less than than a radical transformation-through prayer and hope-of our community and the church.
2015
Dr. Rachel Chrastil
Provost and Chief Academic Officer
Associate Professor
Department of History
Selection Committee Statement:
Dr. Rachel Chrastil embodies the model of a teacher-scholar who both engages in thoughtful, innovative pedagogy and excels at research in her field. Her position as director of the First-Year Seminar initiative, her pioneering work in digital Humanities pedagogy, and her efforts to partner with community organizations illustrate her pedagogical leadership and commitment to Jesuit teaching ideals while her evaluations and course materials indicate that she provides students with challenging and creative course content. Her scholarship, supported by two prestigious national research fellowships including a Fulbright, is also prodigious. Among her publications she has two books, both repeatedly lauded by her peers as compelling work on the period in France leading up to World War I. She has also delivered numerous invited talks and conference papers at notable national and international venues. Dr. Chrastil's teaching and research both stand as testimony to her persistent and consistent commitment to excellence.
2014
Dr. José María Mantero
Professor of Spanish
Department of Classics and Modern Languages
Selection Committee Statement:
Dr. José María Mantero is a very dedicated teacher and outstanding researcher. His student evaluations indicate that they experience him as a challenging, yet accessible and helpful professor. His research explores different aspects of Spanish as well as Ibero-American culture and is thus extraordinarily multifaceted. His teaching statement shows that he allows himself to be inspired by his students and by his community engagement. Specifically, the committee noted that his research is strongly intertwined with his teaching at Xavier and is an exemplary reflection of the Jesuit teaching philosophy and Xavier's mission.
2013
Dr. Richard Polt
Professor and Chair of Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
Selection Committee Statement:
In his teaching and scholarship, Richard Polt has demonstrated that a professor can be both a creative distiller of difficult philosophical concepts and a public intellectual able to converse with a general audience. In the classroom he has elicited gratitude for making philosophy palatable and excitement for making it relevant to the lives of his students. As a scholar his introduction to, and translations of, Heidegger have won him international accolades from scholars. At the same time his editorials for The New York Times have opened a "third" portal through which he engages the public in philosophical debates. In short, Richard Polt's career serves as an exemplary model for how to move back and forth between different constituencies in and outside the classroom and university.