The Joseph R. Accinno Teaching Award

The Joseph R. Accinno Faculty Teaching Award is presented annually to the faculty member who best exhibits excellence in teaching, passion and enthusiasm for learning, and genuine concern for students’ academic and personal growth. Faculty who have received tenure and are scheduled to teach during the spring semester are eligible for the award. The award program is administered by the Center for Teaching Excellence and the Teaching Award Selection Committee (TASC). The recipient receives a cash stipend, is formally acknowledged at the College’s Academic Convocation in September, and has his or her name inscribed on a plaque that is permanently displayed in the Center for Teaching Excellence.
Teaching Award Process and Criteria

Teaching Award Recipient, 2025-26

Dr. R. Alexander Orquiza, History

One of Dr. Orquiza’s students nominated him for the Accinno Award because of “his always engaging lectures, ability to generate great seminar discussions, and ongoing support of his students outside of the classroom.”

“He is an excellent scholar, professor, advisor, and genuine person who wants to see the success of his students in all aspects of their lives,” the student wrote. “He discusses lessons of friendship, parenthood, and growth throughout life. Every lecture, seminar, office hour, and casual run‑in on campus with Dr. Orquiza has bettered my day and increased my curiosity for the world around me.”

Beyond the classroom, Dr. Orquiza has sought to bring history to life through unexpected and memorable experiences, including a Pad Thai cooking demonstration and a performance of Mozart’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in G Major with Licia Carlson, Ph.D., professor of philosophy.

Reflecting on a 25‑year‑old, framed photo of himself as a member of the University of California, Berkeley Marching Band, Dr. Orquiza said he is often reminded that students juggle many responsibilities that their professors may not see.

“My statement on teaching is best captured by San Francisco Giants great and future Hall of Famer Buster Posey,” Dr. Orquiza wrote. “When Posey was introduced as the Giants’ President of Baseball Operations in 2024, he described his approach as follows: ‘We are in the memory‑making business.’ I was once that student, living a full life outside the classroom—my attention to learning competing with my desire for experience. It reminds me that I need to create memories in the classroom.”

More about Dr. Orquiza

• Author of Taste of Control: Food and the Filipino Colonial Mentality under American Rule (Rutgers University Press, 2020)
• Recipient of the Gourmand World Book Award in Asian & Culinary History for Taste of Control
• Historical consultant for The History Channel’s How Disney Built America
• Author of “Modern Food as Colonized Food,” published in Old Is Bad, New Is American: Philippine Food Consumption and Production during American Empire in the Early 1900s (MIT Press, 2021)
• Member of the American Historical Association, American Studies Association, Association of Asian American Studies, and Asian Studies Association
• Earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, an M.Sc. from the University of Edinburgh, and a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley

Please join us in congratulating Dr. Orquiza on this well-earned honor!

Past Teaching Award Recipients

Teaching Award Selection Committee 2025-2026

Julia Camp, PCSB
Robin Greene, History and Classics
Deborah Levine, SNHS
Saaid Mendoza, Psychology
Lynne Ryan, SESW
Eric Sung, Art
Adam Villa, CTE (Ex Officio)
Gizem Zencirci, Political Science
Lauren Arnold, Class of 2027
Colleen Dooley, Class of 2027
Patrick Morreale, Class of 2028