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Veronica Dujon wins an unprecedented third teaching award.

One of the proudest moments of Veronica Dujon’s career occurred when she received an email from Christopher “C.J.” Martin ’99, who had been a student in Dujon’s globalization class. Martin’s first job out of college was as an intern for U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, and a fairly low-level intern, Dujon recalls. DeFazio had a lot of staff, most of whom were more experienced than Martin.

But as the staff scrambled for research materials to help DeFazio on a global trade issue, Martin suddenly found his groove.

“His email said, ‘You wouldn’t believe this, but I have more information about global trade than half the people in the office,’” she says.

This was high praise indeed for Dujon, whose claim to fame since she joined PSU’s Sociology Department in 1995 is her ability to boil down complicated issues to their essence.

Now she has a new distinction. In June, she became the only instructor to have won the annual John Eliot Allen Outstanding Teacher Award three times (see other 2004 award winners).

As is fitting for any award for teaching excellence, nominees are chosen by students. Each department in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences chooses at least 15 outstanding students who list their nominees and rate them on characteristics such as their ability to challenge students and motivate them to learn, their enthusiasm, communication skills, and organization. This year’s winners—all 21 of them—received $500 and a plaque at a ceremony in June.

Dujon, 40, grew up on the island of St. Lucia in the Caribbean, where she spoke both English and French Creole. Her parents owned a small farm where they grew bananas for export.

“Not surprisingly, my view of world development is different from those of many of my students,” says Dujon, who teaches the sociology of how people relate to land and resources. That difference turns out to be a great teaching tool, because it helps her students think of the global economy from a Third World point of view.

“It’s important for students to step back and analyze issues from something other than an ‘us vs. them’ attitude. As a teacher, I want them to look at issues from all different angles so they can become critical thinkers.”

Dujon attended rigorous Roman Catholic schools in St. Lucia and earned a merit scholarship that allowed her to attend University of the West Indies. Her college experience gave her a strong sense of Caribbean identity, but also helped her adopt a broader global perspective than she could have gotten in St. Lucia because her teachers were from all over the world.

A great education was important to the rest of her family as well: her two brothers are engineers and her sister is a computer programmer.

When Dujon came to PSU in 1995, she quickly gained a reputation that drew even nonsociology students to her.

“She was one of the reasons I wanted to come into this program,” says graduate student Kerry Greer, whose sights originally were set on an economics degree at Oregon State University. She switched to sociology at PSU after taking one of Dujon’s classes. “She’s just extraordinarily good at taking complex information and making it understandable.”

She’s also a bit of a ham. As an outlet to cure the student blues when she was in college, Dujon acted in local theater in Barbados. She never aspired to be an actor, but the experience gave her a dramatic edge in teaching.

“The performance must go on; you have a script to deliver,” she says. “Teaching takes a lot of preparation, especially in a new class. So you talk to yourself, and soon you make the crossover from being a person to being an actor. A teacher can be extremely convincing this way. I don’t allow people to fall asleep in my class.”

Great communication skills is one of the common denominators of the teaching award’s recipients over the years, according to geology professor Scott Burns, who founded the award and continues to organize it.

Burns started the award without any University funding—only what money he could gather on his own. His first contributor was Peggy Allen, wife of former PSU geology professor John Eliot Allen. That donation, and the fact that Allen was one of the most respected and loved professors in his day, prompted Burns to name the award after him.

The first awards were given in 1998. Ever since, the awards ceremony has been a packed event, much anticipated by students and teachers alike. And because it’s held on the last day of classes, it ends the school year on a positive note.

The student judges are picked for their academic ability. They’re the cream of the crop, which Burns says keeps the award from being a mere popularity contest. The idea is that if teachers—such as Dujon—can gain the respect of straight-A students, their abilities must truly be exceptional.

John Kirkland, a Portland freelance writer, wrote the article "Unwired" in the fall 2004 PSU Magazine.