From left: Anna K. Longobardo, Engineering'49, trustee emeriti and chair, Great Teacher Awards Committee; Dimitris Anastassiou, professor of electrical engineering; Michael Seidel, Jesse and George Siegel Professor in the Humanities, and Peter A. Basilevsky, CC'67, president, Society of Columbia Graduates. (photo by: Michael Damas)

The Society of Columbia Graduates presented Michael Seidel, Jesse and George Siegel Professor in the Humanities, and Dimitris Anastassiou, professor of electrical engineering, with the 2001 Great Teacher Award at their 92nd Annual Dinner Meeting last week in Low Rotunda.

Seidel and Anastassiou join renowned professors Mark Van Doren, Lionel Trilling and Wm. Theodore deBary on the expanding list of Great Teachers.

One of Columbia's most popular instructors of Literature Humanities, Seidel came to Columbia in 1977 and has served as chair of the department and a member of the committee reviewing the Logic and Rhetoric Program. For him, the award is a special recognition of more than 30 years of educating Columbia students.

"I'm delighted. It measures your career," said Seidel, noting that he relishes the added honor of "being recognized by the people you taught." Seidel said he feels especially lucky to have had the opportunity to interact every semester with students on the Morningside campus. "I could spot a Columbia student in a crowd every time," he said, adding that he finds in them an unparalleled energy, intelligence and wit. "They're alive," he said.

A recipient of one of the first National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Awards, Anastassiou is Columbia's joint patent holder with several major corporations of the MPEG-2, which appears in all current forms of digital transmission.

"This is one of most rewarding things for a professor. Among all the distinctions, being called a great teacher is the best," said Anastassiou about the recognition. "I think I speak on behalf of all my colleagues when I say that."

Anastassiou, who has recently developed a new curriculum in genomic engineering, believes the future of learning is in allowing students to cross disciplines. "It leads to new ideas and new ways of thinking," said Anastassiou. "In the years to come, this kind of experience will be very much in demand."

The Society of Columbia Graduates elects new members from a pool of Columbians who have been alumni for 10 or more years and continue to serve the University. Members of the Society's Board vote each year for a professor from Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science to receive the award.

The Society, formed at the turn-of-the-century by alumni who wanted to reconnect with the school which had just moved from midtown to Morningside Heights, has distributed the awards for the past 52 years.