The Tufts Community Union (TCU) Senate presented its annual TCU Professor of the Year award to American Studies professor Jean Wu on Friday.
Wu received her award in a ceremony in the Remis Sculpture Court on Friday. About 50 of Wu's students and colleagues were in attendance.
The award is given annually by the Senate's Education Committee, after students submit the nominations, but the final decision is made by the Education Committee.
Junior Senator Alexei Wagner -- who was on the selection committee with sophomore Senators Kyra Jackivicz and Jason Bauer -- presented the award. "This year we received many, many nominations for this award and one person stood out," Wagner said.
A senior lecturer in the American Studies Department, Wu teaches Race in America (AS11A), Asian America (AS91B), and Active Citizenship in an Urban Community (AS131), a conjunction between the University College and the American Studies department.
In a speech to accept her award, Wu said, "I'm overwhelmed."
Wu thanked her students. "Teaching is about forming relationships. There aren't good professors without good students," she said. "Your curiosity and your demands push us to be good professors."
Many of the students who nominated Wu called her an "inspiration."
Sophomore Lisa Wang took two classes with Wu. "Her class is that class you always hear about that changes your life," Wang said. "I nominated her because she's an incredible person who genuinely cares about her students and their progress as people, not just academic students."
"Her presence on this campus and in my life is priceless. Never have I met another teacher as devoted to her students as Professor Wu is," sophomore Kimberly Sue said. "She deserves more than this award, but how do you re-pay a person for changing lives?"
"Had I not taken her class at the time I did, and learned the lessons she teaches so well, it is safe to say, I would not have stayed at Tufts," Sue said.
Junior Wen Cai was happy to see a non-tenured professor recognized for her abilities. "Often only tenured faculty get recognized for their work and part-time faculty at Tufts who carry most of the course load are forgotten," Cai said. "It is no surprise to me that her award came from the student body because that is exactly where she pours her heart into."
In her classes, Wu aims "to have students examine systems of inequality," she said.
Her nominators reflected this. "Throughout my freshman year... I endured many blatantly racist statements geared directly towards me and my Asian-ness. Prof. Wu... listened to me and took my experiences and showed me how to use those negative actions to become a social activist," Sue said. "Without her, I am sure I would have been silenced like so many others in our community."
