Jen Sandler Receives Manning Prize for Teaching Excellence

Content

Jennifer Sandler, senior lecturer in anthropology at UMass Amherst and director of the UMass Alliance for Community Transformation

Jen Sandler, senior lecturer in anthropology at UMass Amherst and director of the UMass Alliance for Community Transformation (UACT), has been awarded the 2023 Manning Prize for Excellence in Teaching.

She is one of five faculty members—one from each UMass campus—who will receive $10,000 awards in recognition of their deep commitment to academic excellence and their exceptional dedication to students and the university. They will be honored at a luncheon on June 21. UMass President Marty Meehan joined UMass Lowell alumni Robert and Donna Manning, who established the prize, to announce this year’s recipients.

Sandler, who holds a doctorate in education policy studies, joined the UMass faculty in 2012, and has made significant contributions to community-engaged social and racial justice pedagogy. As director of UACT, Sandler creates substantive partnerships with numerous off-campus organizations, which allow UMass students to engage in rigorous, multi-year learning and mentorship from experienced community organizers. Sandler’s courses on power and inequality, community organizing, facilitation and community-based research engage hundreds of students across multiple university departments.

Students and alumni describe how Sandler’s “life-changing” teaching has impacted them by creating lasting relationships, affording opportunities to engage in social action and helping them to grow into leadership roles. 

Her colleagues emphasize how Sandler’s social change work “transformed the landscape of the university” in revolutionary ways, saying she is “a brilliant, caring, visionary instructor committed to diversity and inclusion.” Her department chair Julie Hemment adds, “Dr. Sandler lives commitment to justice and solidarity in a unique and profound way.”

The Manning Prize was established in 2016 to honor UMass professors who excel in teaching and service. With the selection of this year’s honorees, 40 UMass faculty members now have the distinct honor of being Manning Prize recipients.

“Dedicated teaching and service and mentorship are all hallmarks of UMass faculty excellence,” said Robert Manning, a 1984 graduate of UMass Lowell. “As first-generation college graduates, Donna and I felt the positive impact faculty role models had on us as we were beginning our journey, so we’re proud to recognize these five exemplary teachers who are inspiring the next generation of UMass students.”

All full-time, tenured and non-tenured faculty members are eligible to receive the Manning Prize. Each UMass campus is responsible for determining its own nomination and selection process, which must include student and peer input to ensure that the selected faculty members meet the criteria of being superb teachers and engaged members of the campus community.

In 2021, the Mannings donated $50 million to the University of Massachusetts system, with a portion of that gift establishing an endowment that will fund the $10,000 award in perpetuity. The Manning Prize will continue to be presented annually to a faculty member from each of the five campuses. Their gift also endowed the Robert and Donna Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences, thanks to $18 million earmarked to support CICS.