Professor Erika Seamon of the American Studies Program won the 2015 College Academic Council Faculty Award, which she will receive during the Faculty Honors Ceremony on March 19.

This year, over 700 Georgetown College students voted to nominate their former or current professors who they felt impacted them during their time at Georgetown. Students could nominate up to three professors.

This year marks the ninth year of the award, as well as the first year that a professor from the American Studies Program has received the award.

“I cannot think of a higher honor than getting an award that is chosen solely based on student feedback,” Seamon said. “I can’t really ask for anything more.”

Seamon teaches many of the core courses in the American Studies Program, including American Civilization and senior thesis seminars. She believes she won the award because her students appreciate being challenged and forced to think critically in her classes, which makes for a better educational experience.

“I push my students really hard,” Seamon said. “I think because they are intellectually curious and brave, they appreciate being pushed.”

Seamon also praised the American Studies Program for the opportunities it provides in the classroom. As it is an interdisciplinary major, it attracts students from a large variety of backgrounds, which contributes to its unique nature.

“It’s a unique major in the college in that it’s very flexible,” Seamon said. “It’s been a wonderful space to teach in because it attracts really curious students.”

Seamon was first notified that she won the award as she was gathering her belongings after her American Civilization class. CAC President Parnia Zahedi (COL ’15) approached her and told her the news.

“I had no idea [of the nomination],” Seamon said. “But it was a pretty nice way to end class. It was a pretty nice surprise.”

Each year at the beginning of the second semester, the CAC sends emails to all students of the College and asks them to nominate their favorite professors. Voting began on Jan. 20 and was extended from Jan. 27 to the 28th to allow for more voting, which brought this year’s vote total in line with last year’s. Over 400 members of the faculty were nominated.

“Whoever receives the top number of votes receives the faculty award,” Zahedi said. “Hopefully the professors really value being honored.”

After the end of the voting process, the council counts the votes and assigns different point values for each professor that received first, second or third place in a student’s nomination. Seamon received the greatest number of first place votes, which ultimately made her the winner of the award. She will receive the award at the Faculty Honors Ceremony, which will also be attended by the top 100 professors with the most votes.

According to Zahedi, while Seamon will be receiving the award, the top 100 professors also received a significant number of votes. Zahedi could not provide the exact number of votes that Seamon received.

“[Seamon] had a significant majority of votes, especially from students who placed her number one,” Zahedi said. “She had the greatest majority by far. … [But] just being in that top one hundred is an honor to be voted upon by students.”

However, Seamon will be ineligible to receive the award again for five years because of a CAC policy that prohibits a faculty member from receiving a second award during the five year timespan.

Secretary of the CAC Casey Nolan (COL ’17) said the CAC Faculty Award was different from other honors that Georgetown bestows upon its faculty because of the fact that it is voted upon solely by students and is not limited to tenured professors.

“We want to give students a chance to formally thank professors for their hard work and dedication,” she wrote in an email to The Hoya. “College Honors is distinct.”

Students may attend the Faculty Honors Ceremony in Copley Formal Lounge for an entrance fee of $5.

Dani Bembry (COL ’15) took two of Seamon’s classes, American Civilization 1 and 2, as well as a year-long senior thesis class. She said she believes that Seamon’s success comes from her ability to appeal to a broad variety of students.

“[Seamon] is able to be valuable to so many different students who are studying so many things,” Bembry said. “I think that speaks to her ability to convey information and empower students.”

Bembry noted that the topics from Seamon’s classes have directly affected her career path. For example, in American Civilization, she learned about how memory was preserved, which then led her to apply for a job at DropBox, where she will work after graduation.

“I feel like her teaching really inspired my post graduate plans,” she said. “If I didn’t have Professor Seamon, I definitely would have been on a different track.”

Laura Higbee (COL ’15) started as an American Studies major in the spring of her sophomore year and worked as Seamon’s teaching assistant for her American Civilization class this semester. She praised Seamon for her creativity, noting that the first paper assignment in the class asked students to design a museum exhibit rather than tediously analyze a passage from a book.

“I had a lot more fun writing that paper than I probably would have [in another format],” Higbee said. “She purposely designs different kinds of assignments than you would get from any other type of professor.”

Seamon said that she cares less about receiving the award than the fact that her classes have left a mark on her students.

“Sometimes it’s tough to know exactly what’s getting through,” Seamon said. “This award has great meaning for me because it means that my students are learning something.”