‘Tremendously effective teachers’: Five UC Berkeley instructors receive Distinguished Teaching Award

March 27, 2025
Anne Brice

The campus's highest honor for teaching excellence, the Distinguished Teaching Award underscores the profound impact instructors have on their students’ learning experiences and future careers.

Five UC Berkeley instructors have received the 2025 Distinguished Teaching Award, the campus’s highest honor for teaching excellence. The Academic Senate’s Committee on Teaching announced the selection on March 10, highlighting that this year’s recipients are “tremendously effective teachers” and that each of them “genuinely cares about and connects with their students.” 

Given since 1957, the Distinguished Teaching Award underscores the profound impact instructors have on their students’ learning experiences and future careers. This year, the committee evaluated 95 nominations based on each teacher’s effective course design, ability to inspire independent thinking, enthusiasm in teaching and creation of an inclusive classroom.  

The 2025 awardees are Helen Bateup, associate professor of neuroscience; Dan Garcia, teaching professor of computer science; Kranthi Mandadapu, associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering; Mark Sandberg, professor of Scandinavian and of film and media; and Sarah Stanley, associate professor of molecular and cell biology.

The recipients will be honored at the Distinguished Teaching Award Ceremony on Wednesday, April 23, at 5:30 p.m. in the West Pauley Ballroom, Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center. A reception will follow.

L&S Faculty Awardees

Headshot of Helen Bateup, person wearing glasses with shoulder length straight blond hair

Helen Bateup
Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology

In its report on the five awardees, the committee said that in teaching about neuroscience, Helen Bateup(link is external) makes it a point to incorporate current research into the classroom and demonstrate how it can be applied in “the real world,” an approach that one student noted is “empowering” and that it “spurred lively discourse.” 

The committee also highlighted Bateup’s focus on creating an inclusive learning environment, where she aims to bring empathy, kindness and understanding to the classroom with the goal of establishing “an environment where these challenging diseases, which have affected many students personally, can be discussed openly and addressed from a biological standpoint.”

Headshot of Mark Sandberg; person wearing a dark collared shirt and wearing glasses

Mark Sandberg
Professor in the Department of Scandinavian and the Department of Film & Media

Colleagues and students described Mark Sandberg(link is external), a professor of Scandinavian and of film and media, as having a “gentle enthusiasm” and a “magic touch,” with an ability to put everyone in the classroom at ease. One former student said this created a calm environment that encourages open and collaborative conversations and in which students could freely build upon each others’ ideas. 

As Sandberg prepares to retire at the end of this academic year, another former student, now a professor, said he was inspired by Sandberg: “In Mark’s long career at Berkeley, he has demonstrated unwavering generosity toward his students and colleagues. … Mark is everything I aspire to be as an instructor, and I have learned so much from his example.” 

Headshot of Sarah Stanley, person with short dark hair wearing a dark shirt

Sarah Stanley
Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular & Cell Biology and in the School of Public Health

In her teaching about infectious diseases, Sarah Stanley prioritizes critical thinking over memorizing, the committee writes in the report. A former student recalled Stanley’s “infectious enthusiasm” and dedication to explaining complex concepts in many different ways until everyone in the class understood, often excitedly punctuating a key point from her slides during class. 

The committee also highlighted Stanley’s work with Berkeley graduate students in the annual Summer Research Institute in Uganda, where they help to train African students in techniques in immunology and molecular biology. Stanley shared that the process helps students gain insights into the health challenges facing East Africa and develop a deeper understanding of the barriers to conducting research in resource-limited settings. 

Read more at Berkeley News >>

https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/03/19/tremendously-effective-teachers-the-2025-distinguished-teaching-award-goes-to-five-uc-berkeley-instructors/

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