Dawn Odell Named 2024 Teacher of the Year

Associate Professor of Art History Dawn OdellAssociate Professor of Art History Dawn Odell was named Lewis & Clark Teacher of the Year on April 17, 2024.

Dawn Odell teaches courses on early modern European and East Asian art, including classes that explore the history of Buddhist art, urban experience in late imperial China, reality effects in seventeenth-century European art, and relationships between art and imperialism. Odell’s research focuses on the exchange of objects and artist practices between China and northern Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Left to right: Dawn Odell and Cadyn Schenk-Turner BA ’26“She is not just a teacher, but a mentor, a guide and a source of inspiration,” Art History Major Cadyn Schenk-Turner BA ’26 said. “I have had the privilege of being in Dawn’s classroom many times, and I can attest to the profound impact she’s had on my own academic and personal growth. Quite simply, Dawn embodies the very best of what it means to be an educator, a scholar, and above all a compassionate human being. Her relentless pursuit of knowledge and her genuine care for her students sets a standard we should all aspire to emulate.”

Dawn embodies the very best of what it means to be an educator, a scholar, and above all a compassionate human being. 

Each year, the Pamplin Society of Fellows, Lewis & Clark’s undergraduate honors society, bestows the Teacher of the Year Award to one professor. This award aims to honor undergraduate faculty members that go above and beyond the duties of their position to enrich student learning.

Left to right: Sidra Kamran, assistant professor of Sociology, Jennifer Hubbert, professor of Anthropology and Asian Studies, Dawn Odell, associate professor of Art History, and Benjamin Mann, visiting assistant professor of Rhetoric and Media StudiesThis year, the finalists for the award included:

• Sidra Kamran 
• Jennifer Hubbert
• Dawn Odell
• Benjamin Mann 

This award is entirely driven in all aspects by undergraduate students. A call is issued in early March for students at the college to write nomination letters for faculty members that have played a dynamic role in students’ academic lives. These letters are then reviewed by a selection committee composed entirely of students.