Why can’t lecturers win the President’s Award in Distinguished Teaching?

Recently, all undergraduate and graduate students received an email from the Office of the Dean of the Faculty requesting nominations for the President’s Award in Distinguished Teaching. The award is given to faculty who have a “sustained record of distinguished achievement in undergraduate and/or graduate teaching at Princeton.”

Not all faculty, however, are eligible for the award. Faculty members appointed to the rank of lecturer, in particular, are ineligible for nomination. This restriction affects a significant number of instructors at Princeton — there are 275 lecturers, and they make up 22 percent of non-visiting faculty. By excluding lecturers, Princeton is excluding many talented, dedicated instructors from winning the award.

When I asked the Office of the Dean of the Faculty for comment on why lecturers are ineligible for the award, I was referred to the University’s Office of Communications. In an emailed statement, University spokesperson Jennifer Morrill told me that “full-time senior lecturers, University lecturers, and professors of the practice are all eligible to be nominated.”

Though Morrill’s comment indicates that some non-tenure-track faculty can be nominated for the award, those eligible individuals only account for about 25 percent of those not on the tenure track. While the tenured/tenure-track faculty consists of the full, associate, and assistant professors, the non-tenure-track faculty (also called the teaching faculty) consists of the ranks Morrill mentions, as well as lecturers and instructors.

Almost every undergraduate at Princeton has been taught by at least one lecturer — more than 95 percent of the faculty who teach first-year Writing Seminars are lecturers, and lecturers teach many introductory courses in mathematics. In the computer science department, teaching faculty make “boutique teaching at scale” possible, as explained by former department chair and current University Provost Jennifer Rexford ’91 in a 2020 department news article. “Teaching faculty are the key to addressing the department’s increasing enrollments” as well as avoiding the use of weeder courses or hard enrollment caps present at other universities. Lecturers also assume key roles in many departments, serving as directors of undergraduate study or directing independent work programs, giving undergraduates critical guidance and assistance on their way to getting their degrees.

I and many of my peers have personally benefited from the excellent teaching of lecturers. During my first year at Princeton, six of 10 of the primary instructors of my courses were lecturers. Many of them were exceedingly dedicated to their work as teachers. They stayed after class to explain more complicated topics to me and saved me from making laboratory mistakes. They’ve redesigned courses and offered copious amounts of office hours — even coming to the residential colleges — to ensure that every student can access the help they need.

This is by design: Princeton has been making significant strides in improving instruction and support in introductory courses, and much of the credit for that goes to lecturers. For example, some STEM departments now offer summer courses that give students another chance at completing the introductory courses, many of which are staffed by lecturers. Furthermore, in a program called the “Lecturer Corps,” coordinated by the Office of the Dean of the College, lecturers in mathematics, chemistry, and physics are deployed to improve the accessibility of introductory curricula for those with less pre-collegiate preparation. Deputy Dean of the College Elizabeth Colagiuri explains that the program is specifically designed to provide “longer on-ramps for students” who may need it and reduce instances of students changing their major because the intensity of their coursework has discouraged them.

These are all laudable efforts by the University, the Office of the Dean of the College, and academic departments. Many before me have written in The Daily Princetonian about how introductory mathematics courses can be excessively difficult or how a focus on rigor undermines student flourishing. The above mentioned changes increase the accessibility of important disciplines and make Princeton’s academic rigor more manageable. It’s time, however, that we give the lecturers who are constantly laboring to make Princeton’s rigors more accessible a chance to be recognized.

There are a number of ways that Princeton could address this inequity in the nomination process. The most straightforward is to simply accept nominations for lecturers. The University refused to provide further explanation when asked why this was the case. Princeton could also create another University-wide distinguished teaching award specifically for lecturers, or non-tenure-track faculty in general, that recognizes teaching excellence — no non-tenure-track faculty member has won the President’s Award in Distinguished Teaching since 2019.

Let’s give a chance to those who make “boutique teaching” possible, those who work tirelessly to make our rigorous curricula more accessible, and those who dedicate their time to advising and guiding us through all the challenges we face at this University. I have plenty to say about the exceptionally dedicated lecturers who’ve helped me so greatly and demonstrated a “sustained record of distinguished achievement.” I will gladly deliver my “signed letters of nomination” to Nassau Hall.

But the question is: Princeton, will you accept my nomination?

Jerry Zhu is a sophomore from Beijing intending to major in Economics. He serves as the community Opinion editor of The Daily Princetonian, and encourages you to submit a response to this piece or write an op-ed for the ‘Prince.’ You can reach him at jfz[at]princeton.edu.