Lucal
 “Even among good teachers there are few who can claim to have a national reputation for teaching excellence. Lucal has achieved this and continues to develop her expertise and to share it widely.” —Scott Sernau, chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, IU South Bend |
Sylvia E. Bowman Award for Teaching Excellence
Gender, class, sexuality and marriage are all subjects that
can hit a little close to home. Unless they’re looking for
a fight, most would avoid challenging others’ assumptions
about these topics. Betsy Lucal does it for a living. And
her students like it.
Among the courses Lucal teaches are Introduction to Sociological Theory, Feminist Theory and Constructing Sexualities. Currently on sabbatical, Lucal is developing four new courses, including a course on the sociology of men in America and one on the sociology of food.
Lucal’s success is, in part, because of her extensive research on teaching innovation and on the role of race, class and gender in teaching and learning. She has served on the editorial board of, and has been a regular contributor to, Teaching Sociology, the journal of the American Sociological Association. She also has helped the Sociologists for Women in Society establish a mentoring program for junior faculty members entering the profession.
Lucal identifies three primary goals for her teaching. “I want every student in the class to come away with some understanding of the sociological perspective and of substantive issues in the field,” she said. “Second, I want my students to be able to apply what they have learned in the classroom to the world around them. Third, I want my students to understand how the sociological perspective can be used to fight social injustice.”
For her efforts, Lucal has won the Trustees Teaching Award three times, as well as being selected for a Distinguished Teaching Award at IU South Bend in 2004, and as Faculty of the Year in 2003 by the IU South Bend Student Government Association. In 2000, she was selected for inclusion in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.
“Dr. Lucal is pro-student,” said one student. “She expects the best from her pupils and because the students respect and admire her, they give their best.”
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