MIT Announces Recipients of the 2014 Jamieson Teaching Awards
MIT has announced that The 2014 MIT Sloan recipients of the Jamieson Teaching Awards are Professor Georgia Perakis and Associate Professor Juanjuan Zhang. The Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching Award, the most prestigious teaching prize offered by the School, was established in 2006 and is awarded each year to two MIT Sloan faculty members, as well as two electrical engineering and computer science faculty members, for their contributions to educational excellence at MIT.
Perakis, the William F. Pounds Professor of Management, a professor of operations research and operations management, and the MIT Sloan faculty co-director of the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) program, was cited for her “dedication, passion, and innovative thinking that have had a long-standing impact on the School.”
Perakis, who has been a member of the faculty since 1998, said she’s passionate about her job because of the students that she teaches and mentors. “The students here are amazing, and they shape who I am. I feel like a constant student because I am always learning from them,” she said.
Zhang is an associate professor who teaches marketing management and studies social interactions and marketing strategies. The Jamieson Prize Selection Committee noted her “dedication to knowledge dissemination and pedagogical innovation, with impact extending across the Institute.”
Zhang said she was “deeply thankful” for the award. “MIT Sloan has been really supportive of my teaching over the years,” she said. “My colleagues have gone out of their way to help, and my students have brought so much enthusiasm into the classroom, which makes teaching an inspiring experience to me.”
MIT Associate Dean Appointed to British Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology
Professor Fiona Murray, MIT Sloan’s Associate Dean for Innovation, was appointed by British Prime Minister David Cameron to his Council for Science and Technology. The Council is tasked with advising the Prime Minister on science and technology policy issues that affect multiple governmental departments in the United Kingdom, including education, research, policy and the economy. The appointment was made for a 22 month period, and comes after Cameron visited the MIT campus last year to meet with Professor Murray, as well as the President of MIT, faculty and student entrepreneurs
In addition to her role as Associate Dean, Professor Murray is the faculty director of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, and in role as the Alvin J. Siteman Professor of Entrepreneurship teaches the popular Innovations Teams class. She is an international expert on the transformation of investments in scientific and technical innovation into innovation-based entrepreneurship that drives jobs, wealth creation, and regional prosperity. Murray has a special interest in how policies, programs, and relationships between academia and industry can be designed to accelerate the productive role of universities in their local entrepreneurial ecosystem. She has also studied access to venture capital and the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs.
