Two 海角论坛 Professors Selected for Prestigious President鈥檚 Awards for Distinguished Scholar-Teachers
professor Rachel Barr and professor were chosen for this year鈥檚 . This award is given annually to recognize and celebrate the integration of outstanding research and excellence in teaching at the university. It not only honors the individual recipients but also emphasizes standards of excellence at Georgetown.
Rachel Barr

Professor Rachel Barr, Department of Psychology
Barr is considered a national child development and media expert. Her research seeks to understand the development of infant learning and memory through , of which she is the director. Specifically, the psychologist studies the influence of environmental contexts such as digital spaces, linguistics and parenting on early socio-cognitive development.
Jennifer Woolard, chair of the psychology department, says that Barr鈥檚 work not only 鈥渢ackles some of the important questions of this time, but has resulted in evidence-based interventions that support some of the most challenging and challenged young people in our society.鈥
鈥淒r. Barr鈥檚 scholarship and teaching are grounded in a commitment to collaboration with students, scholars, policymakers and practitioners alike,鈥 Woolard explains. 鈥淪he has created a student-centered dynamic learning environment that generates cutting-edge research and produces first-rate scholarship in partnership with outstanding students.鈥
Currently, she is the president-elect of the International Congress for Infant Studies. She has mentored more than 90 undergraduate students, many of whom have gone on to pursue graduate degrees in addition to mentoring graduate doctoral students at the university.
鈥淚 feel incredibly honored to receive this award,鈥 says Barr. 鈥淒evelopmental Science is a team sport and I am incredibly grateful to my students and collaborators who I have worked with over the years鈥.
Alison Games

Professor Alison Games, Department of History
The Dorothy M. Brown Distinguished Professor of History, Games teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on subjects related to early America, the Atlantic world and European expansion and global interaction.
Games is the author of several books, most recently Inventing the English Massacre: Amboyna in History and Memory (2020). She has held a variety of external fellowships including the Hans Kohn Member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
The professor says that she was 鈥渢hrilled to receive this award.鈥
鈥淭eaching and scholarship are intertwined in significant ways in my work at Georgetown, and receiving this award makes me acutely aware of how fortunate I am to work in a department that values both enterprises equally,鈥 Games says.
Bryan McCann, chair of the history department, says that he and his colleagues are 鈥渟o happy to see the professor鈥檚 work across categories recognized.鈥
鈥淎lison Games is an inspiring scholar/teacher who brings the same passion and commitment, leavened with a sharp sense of humor, to all her endeavors including her own research, her graduate mentoring, her undergraduate teaching and her service to the department and the university,鈥 McCann explains.
More About the Awards
Each year, the President names outstanding full-time faculty members to receive the awards and be recognized as Distinguished Scholar-Teachers. Award recipients receive an annual grant of $10,000 for three academic years to support their scholarship. The recipients of the President鈥檚 Awards will be recognized during the virtual 2021 Spring Faculty Convocation.
