Nicholas Eastman receives Ripon College May Bumby Severy Award

At this spring’s Awards Convocation, Nicholas Eastman, assistant professor of educational studies, received the May Bumby Severy, Class of 1908, Award.

Established through a bequest from Severy in 1956, the award is presented to faculty members who have shown the highest degree of excellence in teaching. The established criteria include innovating existing courses and/or developing new courses, staying current with one’s discipline and communicating that knowledge to students in an effective manner, assisting students with course comprehension both inside and outside of the classroom, maintaining integrity of academic standards, teaching students how to think and communicate critically, exciting interest in course material, and providing useful feedback for students to improve the quality of their work.

Eastman earned his bachelor’s and master of arts in teaching from Southern Illinois University and his Ph.D. from Georgia State University. His academic interests are in philosophy, political theory and cultural analysis of education, and he has published in various academic journals. He recently co-wrote an article with Ripon College student Ethan Hansen ’23 titled “Classroom Exchanges: Big Data and the Commodification of Educational Communication,” to be published in Education & Culture during summer 2021.

His nomination cites his helpfulness and support of students in the Department of Educational Studies, encouragement of thoughtful argumentation, constructive feedback on assignments, and respect and understanding for his students.

One student highlighted their time in one of Eastman’s classes: “In his School and Society class, we thought, read and discussed problems and solutions in the world of education. Dr. Eastman had us ponder why we are teaching and learning instead of just thinking about different methods on how to teach and what we should be teaching. That is not to say that he thinks discussion about the different methods and different subjects to be taught are not important, but that having a clear reason for why we are doing something will motivate us and give us a clear purpose is of importance as well.”

Kourtney Camm ’22
Evansville, Wisconsin