The College Academic Council (CAC) awarded a government professor the College Honors Faculty Award, its top honor, the council announced April 1.
Joseph Hartman (GRD ’15), the honoree, teaches political theory, constitutional law and American government at Georgetown University, where he began teaching after a career as a private litigation attorney. The CAC, a student council representing the student body to faculty in the College, solicited student nominations for the annual award, which recognizes one professor for outstanding contributions to the Georgetown community.
Hartman said he was taken aback but gratified after he learned the council bestowed him the award.
“When the College Academic Council notified me, I was surprised but thrilled,” Hartman told The Hoya. “Georgetown, as a whole, takes teaching very seriously and certainly one of the big motivations for what I do is working with students. So I appreciate the recognition and I am very grateful for that.”
Stephen Blinder (CAS ’25), the president of the CAC, said the council selected Hartman to receive the award in recognition of his commitment to teaching and scholarship.
“I have taken three classes with Professor Hartman throughout my time at Georgetown, and I think it’s no overstatement to say that it’s been one of the great privileges and honors of my academic career to get to be a student of his,” Blinder told The Hoya. “Every single day that he’s in the classroom, he embodies the highest ideals of our school. He inspires countless generations of students to be the best versions of ourselves in and out of the classroom.”
Victoria Freeman (CAS ’26), who was a student in Hartman’s first-year seminar on the First Amendment and his upper-level constitutional law seminar, said Hartman pushes students to engage with course material and their peers.
“What really stands out about Professor Hartman is his unique combination of fostering discussion and lecturing and sharing information that is helpful towards the discussion,” Freeman told the Hoya. “While I’ve experienced a lot of professors who imparted valuable information to me, Professor Hartman really encourages his students to think and arrive at conclusions for themselves.”
Blinder added that Hartman’s teaching goes beyond academics to help students grow as individuals.
“I’ve learned so much about the practice of constitutional law, but I’ve also learned so much about myself in the process,” Blinder said. “He’s the sort of professor who says so much about the academic qualities of Georgetown, but he is also so much more than that. He’s a person. And I think everybody who has the honor of being in his classroom leaves better at constitutional law, but also a better person because of it.”
Freeman said Hartman supports students in courses and when pursuing independent research.
“He stands out to me largely in his encouragement of student capacity,” Freeman said. “Rather than ever pushing back on unconventional ideas, he simply asks questions and provides you with information that he thinks might be a person to help you. So I see him really as a force to aid in my own thinking and writing capacity that gives me full creative license while simultaneously pushing me to be better.”
Blinder said the College Honors Faculty Award allows students to show appreciation for their professors.
“At the most basic level, professors can be the difference between a good day and a great day,” Blinder said. “They make cura personalis, they care for the whole person, which I think lies at the core of a Georgetown education. So the College Honors Faculty Award is one way in which students annually recognize a particular faculty member who has a profound impact on the student body of the College of Arts and Sciences.”
Hartman said he enjoys teaching at Georgetown because he can encourage student growth and success.
“One of the best things about this job is just getting to know students both in the classroom and during office hours and seeing students succeed going forward,” Hartman said. “That’s why a lot of us do this.”
“The emphasis to me of this award is gratitude to students and also appreciation of the opportunity I have to teach and just to see college students at formative points in their lives, launching for success,” Hartman added. “It’s fun to watch.”