Rothenberg honored for faculty mentoring

In recognition of her unwavering commitment to improving and advancing the careers of junior faculty members, Tulane University English professor Molly Rothenberg is the 2015 recipient of the Oliver Fund Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring.

Provost Michael Bernstein announced the award winner, praising Rothenberg's “principled and lifelong commitment to faculty mentoring.”

She is the second recipient of the award, which includes a $5,000 prize.

Rothenberg, whose career at Tulane spans 27 years, was strongly recommended by members of her department. In addition, letters of support to the selection committee crystallized the impact that Rothenberg has had on those she has mentored over the years. Supporters of the nomination paid tribute to her “enthusiasm and honesty,” “guidance and magnanimity” and “indispensable advice.”

One testimonial to her mentorship described Rothenberg as modeling excellence in teaching and research, and infusing a new generation of scholars with courage by emboldening junior faculty to take the lead in pursuing new challenges.

Rothenberg recently received a Fulbright Flex Award for research at the University of Edinburgh that includes preparing a digital exhibition of materials on dramatic adaptations of Sir Walter Scott"s novels from the Folger Shakespeare Library for the bicentennial of Scott"s publication of the historical novel Waverly.

She was the recipient of the Tulane University Weiss Presidential Fellowship for Undergraduate Teaching in 2011, and received the Teacher of the Year award from the Honors Program in 1995.

The previous winner of the Oliver Fund Award in 2013 was L. Gabriel Navar, professor and chair of physiology at the Tulane School of Medicine.