Congratulations to History PhD candidate, Alan van den Arend, on winning this year’s Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award!

The Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Award is one of four Excellence in Teaching and Advising Awards for the Krieger School. Here are a few quotes from those how nominated him:

“I had Alan van den Arend during the fall semester for the intro history course Medieval World and am extremely grateful for that. He came to class excited to be there every time. It was obvious that he loves teaching but also sees it as an opportunity to learn from his students. Not only was he considerate, compassionate, and engaging, but he also made sure each and every student in the class felt welcomed and supported.”

“Before coronavirus, Alan helped us engage with our books and research through questioning that made us think more deeply about the texts we studied, while remaining accessible. He reignited my interest in medieval literature, and tied our readings in with fields of our own personal interest. He even arranged a viewing of materials from the Hopkins Rare Book Collection. It was genuinely one of the most fascinating classes I’ve had since enrolling three years ago. After we moved to online learning, he found ways to continue many of his in-person teaching strategies, adjusting for distance and the new format. He switched to student-driven questioning, and encouraged us to engage deeply with the books in the context of medieval research and history as a whole.”

Congrats, Alan!