The Gitenstein-Hart Sabbatical Prize was created and endowed by former President R. Barbara Gitenstein and her husband Dr. Don Hart. The annual prize supports TCNJ’s teacher-scholar model, a hallmark of the college that Dr. Gitenstein championed throughout her 19 years as president.
Each year, the recipient is selected from among the year-long sabbatical proposals that have been peer-reviewed and ranked highly by the TCNJ Sabbaticals Council. The Gitenstein-Hart Sabbatical Prize is intended to provide additional financial support to the faculty member or librarian taking a full-year sabbatical, thereby allowing the awardee to focus more deeply on their scholarly work.
As is often true of competitively-awarded prizes, Drs. Gitenstein and Hart envisioned that the beneficial effects of the Gitenstein-Hart Sabbatical Prize would accrue not only to the recipients of the Prize but to the larger TCNJ community. For example, following return from their year-long sabbatical leave, the recipient presents a collegewide lecture.
In addition to the direct support it provides, the Prize incentivizes faculty members/librarians on sabbatical to undertake more significant projects that can only be achieved in a full-year sabbatical. Moreover, current and future students—TCNJ’s most important stakeholders—will reap the educational benefits of their professors’ sabbatical work.
Evaluation Process and Selection Criteria
- From the pool of sabbatical leave applications, the Sabbaticals Council will forward to the Provost three candidates to be considered for the Gitenstein-Hart Sabbatical Prize.
- Candidates must meet all the requirements of TCNJ’s Sabbatical Leave Program, including a proposal that has been peer-evaluated by the Sabbaticals Council and ranked to be in the “fundable” range.
- Preference will be given to faculty members/librarians who have been granted tenure no more than ten years prior to the beginning of the academic year in which the year of sabbatical leave will commence.
- The Prize will be awarded on the basis of:
- The overall academic merit of the sabbatical project.
- The alignment of the discipline, subject, and projected outcomes of the sabbatical project with TCNJ’s highest priorities.
- The excellence of the sabbatical recipient’s previous scholarship and instruction.
- The sabbatical project’s potential for making a significant contribution to undergraduate education and scholarship in its field.
- In the case of candidates whose proposal was for a half-year sabbatical, the Provost will notify the faculty member of the possibility of receiving the Prize and give them the option of reworking their proposal as a full-year sabbatical.
- The Provost will make the final determination of the Prize recipient.
Past Awardees
Sabbatical Year | Awardee | Department | Project Title |
2014–2015 | Nathan Magee | Physics | Nanoscale ice surfaces in the cloud-climate feedback |
2015–2016 | Jana Gevertz
|
Mathematics and Statistics | Optimizing cancer treatment with immunostimulatory oncolytic biotherapy |
2016–2017 | Matthew Bender | History | Water brings no harm: Knowledge, power, and the struggle for the waters of Kilimanjaro |
2017–2018 | Deborah Hutton | Art and Art History | Pursuing a more global and ethical history of art |
2018–2019 | Elizabeth Borland | Sociology and Anthropology | Activists and lawyers: Implementing and contesting abortion-related policies in the southern cone |
2019–2020 | Karen Yan | Mechanical Engineering | Engineering Tissue Constructs: Development of Electrospun Fiber Embedded Microfluidic Devices & Modeling of Mechanical Environment of Cells in Engineered Tissue Constructs |
2020–2021 | Joseph Baker | Chemistry | Investigating the intrinsic dynamics of bacterial protein filaments using molecular simulations |
2021–2022 | Aimee Stahl | Psychology | The intersection of infant working memory and social cognition |
2022–2023 | Nina Peel | Biology | Deciphering the role of glutamylation in microtubule stability using C. elegans genetics |
2023–2024 | MinSoo Kim-Bossard | Elementary & Early Childhood Education | Exploring Intersections of Racial and Professional Identities: An Interview Study Examining Experiences of Asian American Teachers in PreK-6 classrooms |
2024–2025 | Leigh-Anne Francis | Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and African American Studies | Jane Crow (In)Justice: Race, Crime and Punishment in New York State, 1893—1933. A Monograph |