Professor James Doyle receives Jack and Marty Rossmann Excellence in Teaching Award

Professor James Doyle, chair of the Physics and Astronomy Department, has been awarded the 2025 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 Executive Vice President and Provost Lisa Anderson-Levy announced the award and read from this citation:

Professor James Doyle: We are delighted to present you with the 2025 Jack and Marty Rossmann Excellence in Teaching Award.

As Professor of Physics and Chair of the Physics and Astronomy Department, your work spans the entire physics curriculum—you’ve taught every required course in the major. At every level, students and colleagues marvel at your ability to guide an entire class toward understanding complex concepts. You are both inspiring and approachable, committed to creating an inclusive learning environment, and providing individualized support. As one former student now doing graduate work in physics writes: “If I can one day become even half the educator and mentor that he is, I would consider that a great achievement.”

Your extraordinary dedication to teaching and learning extends far beyond your department, driven by your curiosity about the boundless ways in which the study of physics crosses disciplines. In addition to collaborating with chemistry and biology faculty, you’ve contributed to the environmental studies curriculum in innovative ways. You developed a class on the science of renewable energy, as well as a new first-year course last fall, Principles of Sustainable Design. You bring your enthusiasm into every classroom. “Jim truly values interdisciplinary learning,” one former student writes. “He would connect [course concepts] to something outside of physics—one day, an analogy for an electrical circuit took him on a tangent about traffic patterns in India. After these brief discussions, he’d always say enthusiastically, ‘There, you’re getting your true liberal arts education!’”

Just as you see the full picture of the liberal arts, you support student journeys wholeheartedly, in your department and beyond. As one former student writes, “While he is passionate about physics itself, it is evident that his true drive comes from working with students and helping them find their own passions—in physics or elsewhere.” You are generous in advising honors projects and independent studies, and nominators note that all of your research articles published since you started at Macalester more than thirty years ago have had student co-authors. You’ve supported the broader community as chair of both the Faculty Personnel Committee and the Social Responsibility Committee. You have served on the Sustainability Advisory Committee, Affirmative Action Committee, and Non-Tenure-Track Personnel Committee, among others. And, in 2023, you advised Macalester’s first National Renewable Energy Laboratory Solar District Cup Competition team. As one student described, you attended weekend meetings, connected students with solar and battery industry professionals, and provided technical guidance. “However,” the student writes, “his most impactful contribution was his intentional decision to step back and let us take the lead . . . [giving] us the space to develop our leadership and collaboration skills.”

One faculty colleague summarizes the balance you achieve in your work: “Professors at Macalester should be excellent teachers in their disciplines, but also tireless advocates for their students whether or not their goals align perfectly with the discipline. Not everyone can do both of those tasks. Professor Doyle can, and he does it so well.” 

Professor Doyle, it is our honor today to celebrate your dedication to your students, and the impact you’ve made on the Macalester community.