Broadbridge Among Five Honored with Manning Teaching Awards

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Anne F. Broadbridge, professor of history and director of the program in Middle Eastern studies, is one of five University of Massachusetts faculty awarded the 2020 Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching for their exemplary dedication to students and the university. The faculty members—one from each UMass campus—will receive $10,000 awards in recognition of their commitment to academic excellence.

In addition to her current role as a UMass Amherst faculty member, she is an undergraduate alumna of UMass Amherst. She is the recipient of the university’s 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award and the College Outstanding Teacher Award from the College of Humanities and Fine Arts in 2004. 

Her chair describes her as an “extraordinary and dedicated teacher and mentor, honing her skills in large and small classes, on this campus and at a UMass program abroad, as a mentor for junior faculty and students, and a leader in thoughtful teaching innovation.”

Deeply committed to inclusive teaching, Professor Broadbridge embraces an approach to teaching that encourages students to investigate their own minds, thoughts, habits and biases, and the minds and actions of others, in order to understand the diversity of experience. Her students value how she creates “a community of scholastic excellence” in her classes by cultivating a learning environment that “allows [students] the courage to truly speak up,” “where students submit their proudest work,” and “where students become a driving force in learning.”

UMass Lowell alumni Robert and Donna Manning established the Manning Prize in 2016 to honor UMass professors who excel in teaching and service. With the selection of this year’s honorees, 30 UMass faculty members have now been recognized with the Manning Prize since it was created in 2016.

“We are thrilled to recognize these five faculty members whose talents and passion for teaching help make UMass a national model of excellence,” said Robert Manning, a 1984 graduate of UMass Lowell and chairman of the UMass Board of Trustees. “Donna and I are so grateful for the experiences we had at the university thanks to the incredible faculty. We are excited to shine a spotlight on these five exemplary individuals whose work in and out of the classroom transforms students’ lives.”

Robert Manning, who is chair of MFS Investment Management, credits his UMass Lowell math professor Bernie Shapiro with helping him land the job that launched his career. Donna Manning, who received her nursing degree and her master of business administration from UMass Lowell, was an oncology nurse at Boston Medical Center for more than 30 years until her retirement in 2018. The Mannings are among the largest contributors to UMass in its history.

The other four Manning Prize winners for 2020, who will be honored at a virtual event on June 10, are: 

• Lauren Marshall Bowen, assistant professor of Englishand director of the composition program, UMass Boston  
• Kiley Medeiros, clinical assistant professor in nursing, UMass Dartmouth   
• Stacy Agee Szczesiul, associate professor of education, UMass Lowell 
• Frank J. Domino, professor of family medicine and community health, UMass Medical School

All full-time, tenured and non-tenured faculty members are eligible to receive the Manning Prize. Each campus is responsible for determining its own nomination and selection process, but that process must include student and peer input to ensure that the selected faculty members meet the criteria of being superb teachers and exemplary members of the campus community. 

“Rob and Donna recognize from their personal experience as students that faculty are essential to the success of our great university and are the reason that our students graduate with the excellent skills and can-do spirit they need to succeed,” said UMass President Marty Meehan. “We are deeply grateful to them for their generosity to UMass and for highlighting our outstanding faculty members.”