Three instructors, nominated by their peers, have been selected as the recipients of Stanford’s Lecturer’s Award for Teaching and Undergraduate Education.
The award winners for 2024-25 are Marcelo Clerici-Arias, Ross Venook, and Julie Zelenski.
The annual honor, now in its second year, is administered by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). A committee appointed by the vice provost for undergraduate education evaluates nominations and makes awards to lecturers who demonstrate excellence in teaching, curricular innovation, student mentorship and advising, and who make meaningful contributions to undergraduate education and the university’s academic mission. It is intended for lecturers engaged with undergraduates or appointed within the undergraduate schools. The award is jointly supported by VPUE and the deans of the School of Humanities and Sciences, the School of Engineering, and the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
“I am delighted to honor the winners of the 2025 Lecturer Award for Teaching and Undergraduate Education,” said Freeman-Thornton Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education Jay Hamilton. “Through teaching introductory courses and capstones, designing curriculum reforms, and mentoring students across decades, these stellar lecturers have made Stanford a more enlightening and transformative place for thousands of undergraduates.”
The award recipients for 2024-2025 will be formally honored at a celebration later this year.
Marcelo Clerici-Arias | LiPo Ching
Marcelo Clerici-Arias, Department of Economics
Marcelo Clerici-Arias is an advanced lecturer and director of the honors program at the Department of Economics and the public policy program in the School of Humanities and Sciences. Among other courses, he teaches persuasive economic storytelling and behavioral economics.
“I love learning how I might have influenced students’ lives. Recently, a former student visited me for the first time since they graduated. They told me about taking my Principles of Economics course to satisfy a requirement while they were majoring in another discipline, and how some specific innovative examples and techniques we used in class opened up their mind to the economic way of thinking, prompting them to change their major to economics and later on doing graduate school in economics, drastically changing their professional path.”
Ross Venook | Rod Searcey
Ross Venook, Department of Bioengineering
Ross Venook is a senior lecturer in the Bioengineering Department in the School of Engineering and associate director for engineering at the Stanford Mussallem Center for Biodesign. Venook primarily co-leads undergraduate laboratory courses at Stanford, and he supports other courses and runs hands-on workshops in the areas of prototyping and systems engineering related to health technology innovation.
“Helping students transition their mindsets from ‘I am a student working on a class project’ to ‘I am an engineer trying to build something’ is both fun and fulfilling as an educator. One of my favorite parts about leading open-ended, project-based courses is seeing students/teams rise to meet the challenges they set for themselves. For many students/teams, the proverbial rubber meets the road when they encounter a problem, and they ask me what they should do, and I can honestly tell them: ‘I don’t know. As far as I know, this has never been tried before. You are the expert(s) on your project.’”
Julie Zelenski | Ala Mohseni
Julie Zelenski, Department of Computer Science
Julie Zelenski is a senior lecturer in computer science in the School of Engineering and has been teaching at Stanford since 1992. She teaches courses in the undergraduate systems track, led the curriculum development for CS106B and CS107, and collaborated on the design of CS107E.
“Teaching and learning have always been where my heart lies. Any time I’ve learned something new, my next thought is how I can pass it on to others. I can’t think of any job more wonderful than being a Stanford lecturer. The curiosity and enthusiasm of our students makes teaching a delight, and it is a privilege to work alongside my fantastic fellow lecturers and our dedicated student section leaders and CAs. I am immensely grateful and proud to serve this remarkable community that invites all learners to discover the wonders of computing!”
Writer
Diana Aguilera
