10 Ohio State teachers who win hearts and minds
The 2026 Alumni Awards for Distinguished Teaching honor faculty who inspire students to learn, grow and appreciate.
(Illustration by Getty Images)
What makes a teacher great? Helping students master content, going above and beyond, and seeing what should come next. But to take home this award, a teacher also must be so inspiring that students, alumni and colleagues are moved to nominate them.
Fifty-two people nominated this year’s winners. They called out things like “the transformative power of engaged teaching” (Associate Professor Margaret Sumner), “exciting, cutting-edge content” (Associate Professor Guramrit Singh) and “genuine care for her students” (Associate Professor Amanda Bird).
Read on for more.
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Jasmine Abukar ’14 MA, ’22 PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Studies, College of Education & Human Ecology
Says one student: “She not only cares about teaching us content, she encourages us to critically think about the world and how our content can be applied.” Her classes model how rigorous focus, thoughtful reflection and respect for everyone improves students’ future potential. In addition to making excellent teaching happen, Abukar oversees the master’s program and coordinates graduate assistantships for more than 50 students.
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Yiğit Akin ’11 PhD
Associate Professor, Carter V. Findley Chair of Ottoman and Turkish History, Department of History, College of Arts & Sciences
Akin has a career full of honors, the highest student evaluation scores in his department and students who develop a passion for research, a nominator says. His classes are called “a wondrous journey that is as much about details gleaned from dusty archives as it is about enjoying the marvelous artistic creations of the world’s most innovative and creative minds.”
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Dawn Allain
Clinical Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine
Recruited to Ohio State to start a graduate program in genetic counseling, Allain teaches ethical dilemmas, sensitive patient scenarios and social implications that her medical students will face in their future practice. To do this, her nominators say, she creates a classroom environment that is “intellectually rigorous, emotionally safe and deeply empowering.” She’s considered a leader in curriculum development, scholarly work and excellence in teaching.
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Rebecca Andridge
Professor, Division of Biostatistics, College of Public Health
Andridge creates online and in-person biostatistics courses for aspiring public health professionals. The classes aren’t easy, but she does it so well, her students have nothing but praise. The mix of clear instruction, frequent practice and activities, low-stakes quizzes and quick yet thorough responses (often in video form) to trouble points and questions illustrates the sheer amount of work she puts into teaching. “Dr. Andridge is a wonder,” one student wrote in a course evaluation.
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Amanda Bird
Associate Professor, Departments of Molecular Genetics and Human Sciences, Colleges of Education & Human Ecology and Arts
& Sciences
Bird is a scientist-teacher whose students, as one put it, work hard because they want to make her proud. Among her unique classes: one that takes students into Columbus schools to teach DNA-based crime solving and one that goes to Europe to see how science shaped history. “She builds relationships, cultivates confidence and inspires a love of science in everyone she meets,” a nominator says.
Bird’s Molecular Genetics webpage
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Ellen Klinger
Associate Professor of Professional Practice, Department of Entomology, College of Food, Agricultural, & Environmental Sciences
This nominator says it all: “She is the kind of teacher everyone should strive to be: encouraging, understanding and gives students the push they need to soar. In other classes, I can get bored if I know the material or feel like I know nothing, but not in Dr. Klinger’s classes. She challenges advanced students and encourages growth in those new to the topic. I always leave with a smile on my face and new section of knowledge in my head.”
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Danielle Schoon
Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Sociology, College of Arts & Sciences
Schoon relentlessly pursues high-quality teaching. Through honors and grants, novel courses and approaches, and local and international partnerships, she offers teaching that—as one student put it—“changes how you think and relate to people.” Her work draws respect from faculty—“perhaps the best classroom atmosphere I’ve seen,” one wrote—and encourages students to dig into the material.
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Guramrit Singh
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Genetics, College of Arts & Sciences
An awe-inspiring 24 students, colleagues and alumni nominated Singh. They pointed out how he “balances high expectations with kindness and support.” How he “seems to have endless analogies and alternative ways of explaining the topic so that no one is left confused.” How he notices when Ohio State needs to add instruction on the newest science or professional skills to help students prepare.
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Margaret Sumner
Associate Professor, Department of History, College of Arts & Sciences, Marion
“She doesn’t just teach history, she trains her students to be historians,” the nominations say about Sumner. She does this by turning local history into a hands-on laboratory and blending traditional academics, experiential learning and community engagement. Adds one nominator: “The number of students she works with on an individual basis, especially on independent studies and internships, is unreal.”
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Ryan J. Yoder ’13 PhD
Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, College of Arts & Sciences, Marion
Yoder is a master at teaching students how to not just memorize but decipher organic chemistry, his nominators say. One calls his classes “a discovery-oriented, interactive, Socratic dialogue.” Another says: “His lectures are alive with storytelling, connections to current events and the history of drug development, making an often-intimidating subject both approachable and engaging.”
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