新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis historian David Biale, a leading expert on Jewish intellectual and cultural history, is the winner of the 2011 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement.
Established in 1986, the $40,000 prize is believed to be the largest of its kind in the country; it is funded through philanthropic gifts managed by the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Foundation.
On March 8, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi interrupted Biale鈥檚 History of Modern Israel undergraduate class to announce that he had been selected as the 24th recipient of the honor.
"It is a privilege to award the 2011 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Teaching Prize to a scholar and educator of David's caliber," said Katehi. "His students describe him as engaging and inspiring, and his colleagues describe him as a brilliant scholar and source of pride for his department. The 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis prize recognizes, in particular, David's ability to help his students create the intellectual tools to be successful thinkers in a global community."
Biale, the holder of the Emanuel Ringelblum Chair in Jewish History, has been a prolific and dynamic thinker and leader since arriving on campus in 1999.
He founded the Jewish studies program and is now the chair of the history department. The author and editor of 10 books and 74 articles over his 33-year career, he is a three-time winner of the National Jewish Book Award and has held fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Biale will receive the 2011 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement on Thursday, May 12, at a gala dinner in his honor at the Conference Center Ballroom.
鈥淚 am deeply grateful to the donors at the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Foundation who established this prize and to all of my students and colleagues for making this possible,鈥 said Biale. 鈥淭eaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels provides its own rewards when working with young minds. I鈥檓 humbled and incredibly honored by this award.鈥
Biale said he looks forward to using the award money to strengthen student opportunities in the history department, particularly in the areas of graduate education and the Jewish studies program.
鈥楶ivotal鈥 professor
According to Ron Mangun, dean of the Division of Social Sciences, Biale embodies the attributes of the ideal scholar-teacher envisioned by the donors who created this award. Biale has also twice won the Associated Students of 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Award for Excellence in Teaching.
鈥淧rofessor Biale鈥檚 leadership has been pivotal in creating the highly esteemed program in Jewish studies, a favorite of students and faculty alike,鈥 Mangun wrote in a letter nominating Biale for the prize.
Jamie Forrest, a third-year student double majoring in history and political science, said that Biale teaches history as a 鈥渄iscipline concerned with the human experience rather than as a list of dates and events. He has allowed me to form an emotional and intellectual connection to the historical material he covers in class.鈥
Alan Taylor, history professor and recipient of the 2002 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement, described Biale as both a demanding and thought-provoking instructor.
鈥淓ven in the largest classes,鈥 Taylor said, 鈥淒avid invites students to explore the most profound questions about human nature and the interplay of despair and hope, of violence and peace, and of oppression and resistance. He expects much from his students, but they rise to his challenge because they recognize the great insight, care and energy that David invests in helping them.鈥
Biale describes his teaching approach as 鈥渙ld-fashioned鈥 and participatory. His love for Jewish history, traditions and culture comes from the heart, he says.
鈥淚 mostly lecture without notes,鈥 he said, 鈥渁nd even in large classes of more than 200 students I try to get them involved. For me, my personal experience with the subject is the greatest help.鈥
In the past two years, Biale has taught courses on the history of the Holocaust, the memory of the Holocaust, comparative genocide, secular Jewish thinkers and the history of the end of the world.
鈥淪tudents are very excited by ideas and books. In history, we take our students on time travel to faraway times and lands, and that is an exciting opportunity for young minds and their intellectual development and imaginations,鈥 he said.
Biale earned both his undergraduate and master鈥檚 degrees in history at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Berkeley, and his doctorate at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息LA.
As a young student, Biale was greatly influenced by Jewish thinkers like Baruch Spinoza, a 17th century rationalist who laid the groundwork for the Enlightenment; Gershom Scholem, the preeminent modern scholar of Jewish mysticism; and Jacob Katz; a leading historian of the Jewish people.
The most formative influence was Amos Funkenstein, a Jewish historian under whom Biale wrote his doctoral dissertation.
鈥淗e was truly a Renaissance man in terms of intellectual range,鈥 Biale said of Funkenstein. 鈥淗e was probably the only genius I've ever met.鈥
Biale, who describes himself as a secular Jew, wrote his dissertation on Scholem. He is the author of 鈥淣ot in the Heavens: The Tradition of Jewish Secular Thought鈥 (Princeton University Press, 2010); 鈥淏lood and Belief: The Circulation of a Symbol between Jews and Christians鈥 (University of California Press, 2008); and 鈥淐ultures of the Jews鈥 (Schocken, 2006).
Peace, higher education
Biale was born in 1949 in Los Angeles. Even back then, he had a connection to 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis. His father, an immigrant from Poland who would go on to teach plant physiology at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息LA, studied at Davis in 1929. At the time, the campus was still considered an agricultural outpost of 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Berkeley.
鈥淲e used to stop at Davis on the way back from Lake Tahoe ski trips and see former students of his who were on the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis faculty,鈥 said Biale.
Interestingly, he started out as a chemistry major at Berkeley. But with the social upheaval of the late 1960s and 1970s rippling across campus and beyond, Biale soon found himself drawn to wide-ranging discussions about cultural and historical issues. He changed his major, and the rest, as they say, is history.
From 1986 to 1999, Biale served as Koret Professor of Jewish History and director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. During the same period, he also served as adjunct professor in Near Eastern studies and history at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Berkeley.
Biale has lived in Israel, and his wife, Rachel, was raised on a kibbutz, a collective agrarian community in that country. The Biales have two children, Noam, 28, and Tali, 25, and live in Berkeley in a house with a backyard that includes three egg-laying chickens. Three of David鈥檚 hobbies are bicycling, sourdough bread baking and piano playing.
If Biale could make a couple of wishes about the future of the world, he鈥檇 choose peace between the Israelis and Palestinian peoples and greater public support for public higher education institutions like the University of California.
鈥淚鈥檓 a product of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息, and grateful for and proud of it,鈥 he said. 鈥淥ne does not create an educated citizenry by privatizing public education. I鈥檓 willing to pay higher taxes to support public university systems.鈥
About the prize
Kevin Bacon 鈥72, chair of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Foundation, said, 鈥淭his prize, which is funded by generous donors, is emblematic of the importance of philanthropy in supporting excellent teaching and scholarship at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis. The trustees are proud to recognize David Biale, who is a shining example of 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis鈥 best.鈥
Created by philanthropists, the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Prize for Undergraduate Teaching and Scholarly Achievement is an annual award to recognize faculty excellence. The prize honors one 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis faculty member each year, selected for his or her outstanding achievements as a teacher of undergraduates and a scholar.
Each year, a selection committee composed of faculty, students and representatives from the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Foundation Board of Trustees chooses the recipient.
The prize originated in 1986 when Alan Hoefer, a 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis alumnus and then-trustee of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Foundation, created an endowed fund and made the first gift for the prize. Over time, other generous donors also made philanthropic contributions to the fund, including members of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Chancellor鈥檚 Club, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis Foundation Trustees and Trustees Emeriti, alumni and other friends of the university.
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Claudia Morain, (530) 752-9841, cmmorain@ucdavis.edu