Five Faculty Honored for Excellence in Teaching

Five Oberlin faculty members have been recognized with Excellence in Teaching Awards for the 2024-25 academic year.

Presented annually, the awards recognize faculty across the college and conservatory who have demonstrated sustained and distinctive excellence in the classroom and beyond.

"The awardees represent the very best of undergraduate teaching and are deeply admired by colleagues and students alike for their mastery as pedagogues and their dedication to the learning and growth of their students,” says David Kamitsuka, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Their insights and mentoring will be a lifelong inspiration for their students."

Three college faculty and two conservatory faculty earn the honor each year.

“In their steadfast commitment to their students—and to all of our students—and their transformative work in and beyond the classroom and studio, these five individuals represent the highest ideals of the institution,” says Dean of the Conservatory William Quillen. “We are grateful to them for their extraordinary work and fortunate to count them as colleagues.”

A dinner reception was held March 19 at the home of President Carmen Twillie Ambar. The honorees are as follows:

Grace An
Associate Professor of French and Cinema and Media
“Grace An is a brilliant innovator in immersive pedagogies, leading our students on transformative experiences in France,” Kamitsuka says of An, a driving force behind the popular Oberlin in Paris study-away program, which launched in fall 2025. “Students literally hear, see, touch, smell, and taste French culture through her multidisciplinary advanced courses.”

Paul Brehm
Associate Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies
“Paul Brehm is masterful in cultivating the virtuous educational circle of celebrated lectures and super-popular individual office hours,” says Kamitsuka. “He makes the study of economics into an adventure of discovery.”

Dmitry Kouzov
Associate Professor of Cello
“Dmitry Kouzov is one of the great cello pedagogues at work in the country today,” says Quillen. “In his time at Oberlin, he has not only cultivated an extraordinary studio; he's helped support the flourishing—artistically, personally, and more—of so many of our students through his engaging, inspiring work as a teacher and chamber music coach.”  

Gunnar Kwakye
Robert W. & Eleanor H. Biggs Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Kamitsuka notes that an incredible 33 Oberlin students have served as co-authors with Gunnar Kwakye on peer-reviewed scientific publications. “And that is just the tip of the iceberg regarding his integral role in the success of his students,” the dean says. “Professor Kwakye is a living legend as a mentor for our neuroscience students.”

James O’Leary
Frederick R. Selch Associate Professor of Musicology
“Jamie O’Learly is not only one of the most respected musicologists of his generation,” says Quillen; “he's also an extraordinary pedagogue, consistently transforming students' lives through his extraordinary classroom teaching, his mentorship work directing individualized research, and more.”

About the Excellence in Teaching Awards: Each year, College of Arts and Sciences faculty are selected for consideration through nominations presented to the College Faculty Council, which are then reviewed by a faculty committee. An award is presented in each division of the college: arts and humanities, social and behavioral sciences, and natural sciences and mathematics. The conservatory dean recommends a number of conservatory faculty to the Conservatory Faculty Council for consideration, and together they review and narrow the recommendations to two recipients.