Don Johnson Honored with Superior Teaching Award

This year the George R. Brown Award for Superior Teaching has been bestowed upon Don Johnson. Johnson, the J.S. Abercrombie Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Statistics, is one of Rice’s most honored teachers.

Each year, six faculty members are recognized by Rice graduates for their outstanding skill in the classroom. The recipients are determined by the votes of alumni who graduated two and five years ago. This is the fifth time he has earned the Brown Award for Superior Teaching.

Johnson said his style in the classroom is not unusual. In fact, he describes himself as “a straight ‘chalk-and-talk’ teacher.”

“I am not one who tries bizarre techniques to capture student attention or to drive home a point,” Johnson said. “My experiments in pedagogy revolve around new courses.”

Johnson, who is on sabbatical in Germany this semester at International University–Bremen, said, “Instilling critical thinking” is one of the most important tasks for university faculty — regardless of their discipline.

“I maintain an open door for students all the time,” Johnson said. “Only by talking with students outside the classroom can I show how engineers think.”