MCC Daily Tribune Archive

The Professional Development Committee of the Faculty Senate is proud to announce that Anthony Leuzzi is the 2010 recipient of the Dr. Wesley T. Hanson Award for Teaching Excellence.

The Hanson Award is the highest honor granted by Monroe Community College for teaching faculty.

Tony Leuzzi began his career at MCC twelve years ago as an adjunct and is currently an Assistant Professor in the English/Philosophy Department. He has consistently demonstrated complete mastery of the material presented in his classes, which include both core courses such as College Composition, Introduction to Literature and Creative Writing to highly complex and sophisticated topics such as Literature of the Holocaust, Contemporary Poetry, and the Honors Seminar in Paradise Lost.

He receives exceptional classroom evaluations year after year. To quote Cathryn Smith, Chair of the English Department, Tony has the “ability to afford his students unique and provocative opportunities to engage in difficult texts.”

Importantly, Professor Leuzzi maintains high standards both in the material he chooses to teach and the manner in which he challenges his students. Those who study Holocaust Literature have to examine the historical, cultural, and socio-political concerns reflected in the literature. Prior to teaching Holocaust Literature in 2006, Tony was a member of the Holocaust Genocide Human Rights Team.  As part of his ongoing scholarship and preparation for the course, he enrolled in an intense five-week course on Anti-Semitism and the Shoah at Yad Yashem’s Institute in Jerusalem. Passion such as this gives new dimension to the question “What did you do on your vacation”? Further, Professor Leuzzi encourages students in this class to extend their involvement by writing critical articles for the Genocide Human Rights Team quarterly newspaper.  This is only one example of the commitment and immersion Professor Leuzzi demonstrates in his teaching.

Tony is able to translate his passion for writing into teaching. He is a published and award winning poet. In 2009 his poem, “The Untangled Vine Becomes” was nominated for a Pushcart Poetry Prize – the most coveted prize in the field. All in all, seventy five of his poems have been published in various journals over the last nine years, and his most recent book of poems, Radiant Losses, has just been published. When Professor Leuzzi encourages his students to write, write more, and then write yet more, they know they are in the hands of a master. He challenges his students to publish as well, and does not hesitate to give freely of his time and talent to encourage students. As one example, a young man approached Tony with the idea of doing Independent Study on Postmodern Fiction Writers. Even though Professors are not compensated for Independent Study, Tony jumped at the opportunity. That young man has since had his work published!

Even his service to the College is writing based. As MCC’s Writing Across the Curriculum Coordinator for the last nine years, he has recruited and mentored faculty from other disciplines. To the extent that writing is disciplined thinking, he has helped all of us broaden and enhance our own teaching skills. He is indeed a worthy recipient of this prestigious award.