2025 Superior Teaching Award Ceremony
Celebrating Extraordinary Teaching
The 2025 Ted and Shirley Tober Superior Teaching Awards Ceremony was an evening filled with joy, gratitude, and genuine celebration of what makes the Humanities Seminars Program so special. In a room full of curious learners and generous supporters, HSP honored five outstanding instructors whose teaching captures the very best of world-class, public humanities at the University of Arizona.
This year’s awardees reflect the remarkable range of the HSP curriculum:
- Tyler Meier, poet and Executive Director of the UA Poetry Center, for a seminar on contemporary poetry that helped students find new ‘companions’ in the poems.
- Chris Impey, Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, for an astrobiology course that opened the cosmos to non-specialists and left students “in awe of the universe.”
- Matthew Mugmon, musicologist and Mahler scholar, for a deep dive into Mahler’s symphonies that helped students finally hear and understand this monumental music.
- Olivia Miller, Museum Director and educator, for an art and authenticity seminar that turned complex questions about originality, forgeries, and museum practice into engaging, eye-opening inquiry.
- Terry Hunt, leading Pacific archaeologist, for a sweeping exploration of Polynesia and the Pacific Island past that made cutting-edge research feel vivid, human, and accessible.
Together, these honorees showcase the breadth and depth of HSP: poetry and science, music and museums, anthropology and the history of human exploration. The evening’s remarks—from Dean Durand, Development Council Chair Raul Delgado, Director Micah Lunsford, and Associate Dean Ken McAllister—underscored a shared conviction: HSP is more than a set of courses; it is a community where curiosity never fades and learning truly lasts a lifetime.
Ted and Shirley Taubeneck Superior Teaching Awards
Tyler Meier
Poetry Center Executive Director
Chris Impey
University Distinguished Professor
Matthew Mugmon
Associate Professor
Olivia Miller
Museum of Art Director Emerita
Terry Hunt
Professor
Thank You Donors!
You Assure the Future of the Humanities Seminars Program
Your support makes this remarkable meeting of the university and the community possible. Tuition covers only part of the cost of delivering HSP’s hybrid, high-caliber seminars. Donor generosity bridges the gap—sustaining our live-studio classroom, keeping courses affordable, and attracting the extraordinary faculty we celebrated at this ceremony.
If this recording inspires you, please consider making a gift to the Humanities Seminars Program today to help ensure that HSP’s award-winning teaching and boundless discovery remain accessible to learners for years to come.
To give online, click the button below.
If you prefer to mail in a check, please make your check out to UAF – Humanities Seminars Operations and mail it to:
Humanities Seminars Program
Attn: Micah Lunsford
PO Box 210150
Tucson, AZ 85721-0150
“The high quality of professors is astounding. My life would not be the same without the stimulation of these classes!”