Teaching fellow Hardeep Dhillon, who graduated from GSAS with a PhD in history in May 2021, stands out as an exemplar of empathy and active listening—skills that not only impress the faculty with whom she works, but also shape their own approach in the classroom.
“I can say, truthfully, that she has transformed my teaching every bit as much as she has learned about teaching from me,” says Alison Johnson, professor of history and of Germanic languages and literatures who led the Department of History’s Colloquium on Teaching, which Dhillon participated in. “She taught me the importance of listening to the anxieties and concerns that lay behind student comments and—an even greater challenge—behind student silence. She taught me the importance of being transparently honest and detailed in feedback so that not only criticism, but also praise can be taken seriously.”
Dhillon’s students have praised her teaching skills and intellectual rigor since her first forays into the classroom. “Hardeep has been a truly amazing section leader and one of my favorite teachers at college,” wrote one in an early evaluation of her teaching. “Her kindness creates an environment in which I felt comfortable enough to put forth ideas that may have not been fully formed, and she helped to guide discussions and push her students to think critically and deeper about the material.” Another student acknowledged Dhillon’s commitment to those in her sections. “She not only offers extensive feedback, but she always provides notice of when that feedback will come and why it is substantively the way it is.”
Dhillon’s skills earned her the History Prize Instructorship, the most coveted graduate teaching position in the Department of History, based on her design of the course Migrant Geographies: Between Asia and the United States in the Twentieth Century. When she taught the class during the fall 2020 term, Dhillon again received high marks from students. “She is an incredible historian, a deeply engaging instructor, and an incredibly understanding professor,” one wrote. “She teaches in a way that makes dense concepts incredibly accessible, all the while stimulating participation in a remote semester so effortlessly.”
Of all the praise that Dhillon receives, however, none speaks to her dedication and skill more than what students say about the impact her teaching will have after class has ended. “Hardeep is everything that one could want out of a professor,” one Migrant Geographies participant wrote. “By far one of the best…I’ve ever had at Harvard and I know I’ll take her teachings with me in my future years.”
Hardeep Dhillon, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is pleased to present you with the Derek C. Bok Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Teaching of Undergraduates. Congratulations!
Photo by Stu Rosner
