January 24, 2000

Middlebury College Names Timothy T. Huang Recipient of the Perkins Award for Excellence in Teaching

Middlebury College has named Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Timothy T. Huang the recipient of the Perkins Award for Excellence in Teaching. At 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 8, an award ceremony will be held in Room 104 of Bicentennial Hall on Bicentennial Way off College Street (Route 125).

The award is given each year to a member of Middlebury College’s natural sciences division, alternating each year between a faculty member in the mathematics and computer science department and a faculty member in one of the other four departments in this division—biology, chemistry, geology, and physics. As the award’s name suggests, it honors outstanding performance as a teacher.

Huang received a bachelor’s of science degree in mathematics with computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989, and a doctorate in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley in 1999. Huang is a recipient of an International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence Distinguished Paper Award (1997), and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award (1999). Prior to coming to Middlebury in 1997, he was a research assistant, lecturer, and teaching assistant at the University of California at Berkeley. He was also a software engineer at Oracle Corporation from 1989 to 1990.

The Professor Llewellyn R. Perkins and Dr. Ruth M.H. Perkins Memorial Faculty Research Fund, which provides the award, was made possible by the gift of Dr. Ruth M.H. Perkins, a 1932 Middlebury graduate, in memory of her husband, Professor Llewellyn R. Perkins. Professor Perkins taught at Middlebury College from 1914 until his retirement in 1941. During the course of his tenure at Middlebury, he founded and chaired the mathematics department.

Their children, Marion Perkins Harris, a 1957 Middlebury graduate and science teacher, and Dr. David L. Perkins, a physician, augmented the fund and expanded the scope of the award to honor their mother, Ruth, as well. She was a Vermont State Helping Teacher and a professor of math education at Temple University in Philadelphia.