Xinda Lian

Professor Xinda Lian, an expert in Chinese language and literature and member of the faculty since 1994, was honored at today’s Academic Awards Convocation as the 2010 winner of the Charles A. Brickman Teaching Excellence Award.

Provost Bradley Bateman said of Lian, “One of the most remarkable things about this teacher is the fact that he is an internationally recognized scholar in two different fields. On the one hand, he is recognized as a leading scholar of Song dynasty poetry. On the other hand, he is a leading expert on early Taoist texts. Even more remarkable, perhaps, than his ability to work at the cutting edge in two different fields, is the fact that the two areas in which he works are 1,200 years apart.”

The Brickman Teaching Excellence Award was established in 1997 in honor of trustee Charles A. Brickman, a Denison alumnus from the class of 1954. Having joined Denison’s Board of Trustees in 1973, Mr. Brickman is a life trustee of the college, and he served as chair of the Board from 1983 to 1998.

The winner of the Brickman Award is chosen annually by a faculty committee of previous awardees, along with the provost and associate provost. Nominees must be tenured members of Denison’s teaching faculty who are models of commitment to teaching and who also have strong records of dedication to students inside and outside the classroom. The recipient must have demonstrated a vibrant interest in the learning process, as well as an understanding of teaching as a continuously evolving art form: someone who embraces the teaching and mentoring of students, not just as a profession, but as a calling.

Lian is a professor of modern languages. He earned his master’s degree and his doctorate from the University of Michigan. He also received a master’s degree in English language and literature from the Fujian Teachers University in Fuzhou China and Nanjing University in Nanjing China.