22 July 2002

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I am pleased to announce that John Hsia has won this year's Department of Mathematics Teaching and Service Award.

John joined the department in 1966 after graduating from MIT and very quickly came to have a reputation for good teaching. He received multiple nominations for the College of the Arts and Sciences Good Teaching Award during the years 1970-1973. In 1973 and again in 1974, he was an invited by then President Harold L. Enarson to attend the annual Scholarship Recognition Dinner on behalf of numerous students who wished "to express their appreciation for [your] outstanding teaching."

In the intervening years John graduated 13 PhD students and devoted much effort to the graduate program. (Fans of the department softball team know this well: the number on the back John's team jersey is 772). In recent years he taken personal interest in the recruitment, support and retention of women in the graduate program.

John has served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Number Theory since 1984. He has chaired most of the important departmental committees from the CENT and PROCOMP, to the Undergraduate and Graduate Studies Committees, to the Advisory Committtee and the Board of the MRI, plus task forces and ad hoc committees too numerous to mention. His efforts over several decades have helped shape the department.

In 1975 then Chair Joe Landin wrote, "Hsia is a man with intelligent views on affairs of the department and communicates his views forthrightly to his colleagues." I share this view as, I believe, do former Chairs. John is that most valuable of colleagues: one who has clear, reasoned opinions on departmental matters; one whose advice is steeped in the history of the department; one whose actions are informed both by high standards and high hopes.

Sincerely,

Peter March
Professor and Chair

Department of Mathematics