2023 Golden Apple Award Recipient
Associate Professor Megan Thomas (Politics) is the 2023 Golden Apple Award recipient
Professor Thomas embodies the selection criteria for this award. Her extraordinary pedagogical leadership in the Politics Department is evident in her service as chair of both the undergraduate and graduate programs in Politics. In his nomination letter, Professor and Chair of the Politics Department Ben Read noted that her “deep commitment to teaching is characterized by work that is as meticulous as it is innovative. Most remarkably, she has helped our department blaze trails in two ways: with one new course aimed at bolstering student success and addressing equity gaps in students’ analytical and writing skills, and with another new course that helps enable Philipinx students, a minoritized population on this campus, to learn about politics in a country with which they identify.”
Professor Thomas’ teaching evaluations illuminate her effectiveness as an instructor and mentor to students in the Politics department and across the division. Students appreciate the flexible, empathetic, supportive learning environment that she creates. As one seminar student stated, "I appreciate how she was able to set up her lectures in a way that prepared us for the material, engaged us while we were going through it, and reflected with us after. This was really impressive and also extremely helpful." What stands out in her evaluations is the level of care Professor Thomas invests in each student to foster their success. Another student recollected, "Professor Thomas returned each assignment within days and included a full-page response every time. These responses were the longest and most helpful feedback I've ever gotten on my writing, and they really helped me to improve and motivated me to work harder." Highly attuned to the challenges students confronted during recent difficult times, Professor Thomas has worked to make her lectures more accessible (e.g., combining asynchronous with synchronous) and responds to students thoughtfully and with great compassion.
In addition to her classroom innovations and curricular contributions, the committee noted Professor Thomas’ exceptional mentorship, attracting and working closely with undergraduate and graduate students from across the university, and providing comprehensive guidance and training to the teaching assistants and writing tutors who contribute to students’ learning in the larger courses that she teaches so successfully.
