Students Pick Professor Robb Willer to Receive Golden Apple Award

Assistant sociology professor Robb Willer's 11 a.m. class was interrupted by an unexpected delivery on Tuesday: a basket full of apples.

The basket was part of his prize for winning the 2009 Golden Apple Award for Outstanding Teaching, a yearly honor given to a professor chosen by students.

Willer, who has been teaching on campus for two and a half years, said the student-nominated award was validating.

"Undergraduate education is very important to me," Willer said. "(The award) made my semester."

Students cheered and applauded in the packed Chan Shun Auditorium as Sammy Averbach, chair of the Golden Apple Committee on Teaching, entered the classroom unannounced and told Willer he was this year's recipient. Willer had only known he was a finalist.

"Man, I'm completely embarrassed now," Willer said, smiling. "I'm speechless."

Nearly 100 other professors were nominated for the award. But Willer was chosen this year by the committee because he brings a "fresh eye and fresh perspective to the subject matter," Averbach said.

Willer's social psychology class focuses on the relationship between internal mental processes and external behaviors.

As part of the award, he will receive a $2,000 grant to fund a challenge he proposes to students and will deliver a lecture at a formal ceremony on April 29 at 7 p.m. in the Chan Shun Auditorium.

Trond Petersen, chair of the sociology department, said the award comes as no surprise.

"Willer is personal and entertaining in his teaching style, even with 400 students sitting in front of him," Petersen wrote in an e-mail. "Students love going to his classes, and they do so even for lectures on materials they already feel they understand, just in order to experience Professor Willer's delivery of the materials and his take on the issues."

This is the fifth year the Golden Apple Award has been given. Originally started by an ASUC Student Action senator in 2003, recipients are first nominated by students and then evaluated by an independent committee.

Previous recipients include city and regional planning professor Ananya Roy and political science professor Darren Zook. The award is sponsored by the ASUC, The Daily Californian, Cal Student Store, Berkeley Hillel and Richard and Ellen Sandler.

Willer's students said his engaging style of teaching, infused with humor and the occasional Michael Jackson musical clip, was the reason he received the award.

"Teaching is so important and sometimes gets put on the back burner because we are a research university," said senior Nicole Carlotto. "I feel like he puts us first."

Tags: GOLDEN APPLE TEACHING AWARD, SOCIOLOGY