Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, 2016

Citation

Professor Leslie Hinkson

A feisty and lovable colleague, an inspiration to so many, a researcher with a keen eye for nuance, Leslie Hinkson enjoys the admiration of her colleagues and the deep gratitude and love of her students.

Professor Hinkson’s excellence in teaching has been demonstrated not just by the consistently high student evaluations that she routinely earns but in other measures as well. Her contribution to the department’s mission is significant as she is the only faculty member who has taught all three critical courses required for our majors.

Many of the messages from her former students point to the value of her mentorship. Several who have become teachers stressed that Leslie was their role model. Several alluded to the Jesuit ideal of cura personalis, helping students to develop the whole person: mind, body and soul. No doubt they were among the lines of students waiting outside Leslie’s office to talk about everything from adjusting to college, to family problems, career plans, identity and more. They took pride and inspiration from Leslie’s accomplishments. As one of them wrote, “Seeing a fellow Black woman as my professor was one of the most refreshing and joyful moments I had during undergrad. Experiencing her in action told me that one day I could do this too.”

Leslie does research but she became a professor to teach. She loves her students and her devotion extends beyond the classroom. In 2015 she gave a TED talk based on her research regarding the education achievement gap between blacks and whites in the military. It was a brilliant performance. She calmly reviewed the data and gave her interpretation. In this demonstration, the gap between the races is not as great when military families live abroad as it is here in the United States because military communities there are far more racially integrated than those are in the States. Her work speaks to Georgetown students and to a wider American audience.

The Dean of Georgetown College is proud to recognize Professor Leslie R. Hinkson with the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching on this 30th day of January, 2017.

Dear Chester Gillis