Professor Amy Damon receives Jack and Marty Rossmann Excellence in Teaching Award

Dr. Amy Damon, professor of Economics and Latin American Studies, has been awarded the 2023 Jack and Marty Rossmann Excellence in Teaching Award that recognizes “a faculty member who has been identified by colleagues and students as exemplifying the teaching goals of Macalester College.”

Macalester President Suzanne Rivera announced the award and read from this citation:

We are delighted to present you with the 2023 Jack and Marty Rossmann Excellence in Teaching Award.

You came to Macalester 15 years ago to teach economics, and your courses in that department include Principles of Economics, Economics of Global Food Problems, International Economic Development, Introduction to Econometrics, and the Economics Honors Seminar. The mark you’ve made on the college’s academic program stretches well beyond Carnegie’s third floor. Your teaching and scholarship model the value of an inherently interdisciplinary approach: You are a faculty member in the Latin American Studies Program, and you played a pivotal role in establishing both the Food, Agriculture, and Society concentration as well as the International Development concentration, which you direct.

Multiple nominators marvel at your gifted and energetic teaching style — and they’re not just talking about the occasional sets of jumping jacks and headstands that happen in your classroom. You build a collaborative classroom community, beginning with how you set expectations on the first day: All questions are fair game, everyone will make mistakes, and we all will respect everyone else. Throughout each course, you strive to equip students with the skills to provide and accept constructive criticism. Your students recognize how you balance being supportive and kind with demanding high-quality work from them. Writes one student: “It is so clear how much she cares for the students in her class, but she is unwilling to lower the standard of expectations she has. This is because she truly believes that we are capable of great things, and her belief in us empowers us to incredible growth.”

You have published widely and received several student/faculty research grants to bring students into your scholarship. You connect course topics with real-world examples from your research, which helps students delve deeply into the implications of the models they’re learning to use. You are an extraordinarily clear communicator, as one alum describes in reflecting on their graduate school experience. In their words: “I had four different econometrics professors, including one who had written their own textbook, and five teaching assistants. None of them were able to explain things as well as Professor Damon.” When students are struggling with an assignment, you act as a consultant, asking clarifying questions and helping them come up with their own solutions—a “walking advertisement for how Macalester hones critical thinkers,” writes one colleague. You are an advocate, a mentor, and a guide, especially for students with identities that are underrepresented in economics and in the academy.

You lead through your commitment to curiosity, growth, and change. In addition to seeking feedback and adjusting your courses midway through the semester to respond to each group, you engage in deeper revision to make your classes more inclusive and accessible. You test innovative approaches to evaluating and grading and then advocate for them, and your insights inspire other professors within your department and across campus.

As one faculty member writes, you are “a gem of a teacher and colleague who brings insight, creativity, energy, and commitment to your craft.” Professor Damon, it is our honor today to celebrate your dedication to your students, and the impact you’ve made on so many people in the Macalester community.