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History Professor Cynthia Polecritti Awarded the Dizikes Award for 2009

May 20, 2009

History Professor Cynthia Polecritti was presented with the 2009 John Dizikes Teaching Award in Humanities at the "Celebrating the Humanities" reception held on May 13th. This is Professor Polecritti's third teaching award since coming to UCSC, she is the author of PREACHING PEACE IN RENAISSANCE ITALY, and is working on a book on street life and sociability in nineteenth-century Italy.

From History Department Chair, Mark Traugott: Professor Polecritti teaches Italian history in the late medieval and Renaissance periods as well as, more recently, fascism and the resistance to the Italian fascist regime of the mid-twentieth century. Regardless of period and whether the class is in lecture or seminar format, the response from her students is consistently glowing. They remark on her enthusiasm as well as her knowledge. They praise her for being supportive and generous with her time, even as they consistently remark that she is a hard grader. They appreciate the extensive feedback she provides on their written work and note the care she takes with her well organized lectures.

The hallmarks of Professor' Polecritti's teaching style are her effective use of various visual media (slides, film and video clips, and artistic representations); and the integration of primary historical sources into her lectures. This allows her to tackle methodological issues even as she is providing a well grounded overview that brings alive an era that most students initially find distant or even alien.

Professor Polecritti chose to award Cynthia Thickpenny with the student scholarship portion of the award.

The John Dizikes Award was established in 2002 to honor outstanding teaching efforts of humanities faculty at UCSC and was named in honor of one of UCSC's founding faculty members. John Dizikes is now a professor emeritus of American Studies and served as provost for Cowell College during his 30-year teaching career.

The John Dizikes Teaching Award in Humanities

Since 2002, The Humanities Deans have provided students with the opportunity to honor the teaching efforts of faculty in the humanities by nominating them for the $3,000 John Dizikes Teaching Award in Humanities.  Nominations are submitted to the nominee’s department chair who selects one to be forwarded to the Dean with their endorsement.  The final selection is made by an ad hoc committee of peer faculty.

Past Award Recipients:

2002 Bruce Thompson – Lecturer in History
2003 Gail Hershatter – Professor of History
2004 Jocelyn Hoy – Lecturer in Philosophy and Feminist Studies
2005 Gildas Hamel – SOE Lecturer in Language Studies
2006 Jaye Padgett – Professor of Linguistics
2007 Chris Connery – Professor of Literature
2008 Jody Greene - Associate Professor of Literature

In addition to the $3,000 award, each recipient will have the honor of selecting a Sophomore or Junior student who will receive a $3,000 scholarship in their name. 

Past Scholarship Recipients:

Shelby Polakoff – 2002 Bruce Thompson Scholarship
Joshua Townsend – 2003 Gail B. Hershatter Scholarship
Nathalie Yonga – 2004 Jocelyn B. Hoy Scholarship
Andrew P. Zawislanski – 2005 Gildas Hamel Scholarship
Gilad Gressel – 2006 Jaye Padgett Scholarship
Kenan Sharp – 2007 Chris Connery Scholarship
Rocio Claudia Osuna - 2008 Jody Greene Scholarship

Eligibility – All Humanities lecturers, SOE lecturers and ladder-rank faculty are eligible for nomination.