Student Government will hold its third annual Distinguished Professor Award Lecture Tuesday, March 19. 

The event will give students a chance to nominate teachers based on who they are rather than what they teach, said Joseph Moo-Young, Student Government academics commissioner and senior majoring in chemical and textile engineering. 

“This event recognizes professors that students see as influential and interesting,” Moo-Young said. “The event is very student-driven.” 

Students nominate professors they find deserving of the award. Student Government’s academic commissioners collect votes to narrow down professors and then select the winners. 

“This award represents the voice of the students,” Moo-Young said. “That is what makes the award stand out, it is what makes it special.” 

Student Government will accept nominations until March 2. On March 11, they will come together and choose the professors to speak at the event. 

The chosen professors will speak for 10 to 15 minutes. The topics of these speeches vary and are not necessarily scholastic, Moo-Young said. The winners typically try to express themselves as real people, not merely as professors.

Rupert Nacoste, a professor of psychology, was a winner in the first distinguished professor event. Nacoste said he felt blown away and was honored by the award. 

“Students had, on their own, put my name forward for this award. That made the award feel very, very important,” Nacoste said. “Imagine that out of normal channels, your name is put forward by those you teach to say that you are distinguished. Wow.”

Robert Bruck, a professor of plant pathology, was honored in the second event.

“Of the many awards and honors that I have received over my career, the Student Government award is in many ways the most significant,” Bruck said. “To be recognized by our students for having made a contribution is affirming and motivating to me to continue doing an even better job.” 

Other past winners include David Jones, a professor of agriculture; Robert Patterson, a professor of crop science; David Washington,  a teaching associate professor in the department of management; and Philip Dail, who has since retired from his position as the director of advising in the College of Textiles. 

Students will soon be able to nominate their favorite professors, and many professors hope they do, Nacoste said. 

“I hope the event continues because I think that a student-initiated recognition of teaching is as important as recognitions of teaching that go through administrative channels,” Nacoste said. “After all, who can recognize distinguished teaching better than those who make up the audience for that teaching?”