Passion for Teaching Earns Business School Professor a 2009 Bender Award

In the second in a series on the award winners, GW Today focuses on Assistant Professor of Management Tjai Nielsen.

May 8, 2010

Tjai Nielsen

Assistant Professor of Management Tjai Nielsen’s “personal attention to students in and outside the classroom” secured him a 2009 Bender Teaching Award, one of five given to GW faculty this year.

Endowed by a friend of the University Morton Bender and GW, each award provides a $500 prize to be used by the recipient for faculty development activities.The recipients are selected by a committee of faculty each year based on letters of support from students and faculty, student teaching evaluations, and examples of teaching materials and completed student work.

Dr. Nielsen calls winning the award “thrilling.” “I love to teach and focus on making my classes meaningful and valuable, so to be recognized for that hard work is not only very satisfying but also quite motivating,” says Dr. Nielsen. “Hearing the kind words expressed by colleagues and former students will be an indelible memory for me. I was touched and deeply humbled that they would take the time to share their perspectives on my teaching.”

In addition to teaching in GW’s Executive Master of Business Administration Program, Dr. Nielsen leads the primary research methods course for the School of Business’ doctoral students and developed new core courses in both the doctoral program and the executive program.

In 2008, Dr. Nielsen was one of three worldwide finalists for the Organizational Behavior Teaching Society’s New Educator of the Year Award and was awarded the GWSB Teaching Excellence Award in spring 2009. He has published several papers on the topic of management education including a recent paper in the Journal of Management Education that was one of the journal’s most cited in 2008. Dr. Nielsen also developed a multimedia teaching aid, the Diaspora Teaching Toolkit, which is used not only at GW’s School of Business but in programs across the world.

In the nomination, one colleague said Dr. Nielsen “approaches teaching from the perspective of the learner, creating opportunities for sophisticated abstraction and concrete application,” while another commented on Dr. Nielsen’s devotion to his students, stating: “His office is frequently occupied with students seeking clarification, additional information, project support or career advice.”

Students also singled out Dr. Nielsen as an outstanding teacher. In a letter to him cited in the nomination, one student wrote, “For me personally, you have been a mentor and a true leader. You have demonstrated to me how to lead, and I have in turn put it into practice.” Another wrote, “It is when I meet faculty members like you that I am inspired to pursue a career in academia, so that I too may teach and inspire young business leaders of tomorrow. Thank you for your time, dedication, and passion for teaching. It was a pleasure to experience, and I am truly grateful for that opportunity.”

Calling teaching “a privilege,” Dr. Nielsen says GW’s appreciation of both academia and instruction is significant. “GW is clearly a university focused on excellence in both the lab and the classroom,” he says. “Many schools focus on research at the expense of teaching or teaching at the expense of research, but GW has managed to create a culture that values both pursuits and readily recognizes accomplishments in them. GW is a great fit for someone like me who greatly values my research and my role in the classroom.”