2020 J. Calvin Keene Award to Dr. Damon Berry

Established in 1975, the Keene Award is given to a faculty member in recognition of high standards of personal scholarship, effective teaching and moral concern.

Schonberg said that while reading Berry’s nominations, a unifying theme that stood out was “the courage of his convictions that weds together his approach to scholarship, teaching, and service.  His field of research deals with vitally important but deeply unsettling social topics.  In the classroom, he does not shy away from the hardest subjects to discuss and creates a safe environment for his students to know they can do the same.  In his service to the University, he has taken on the most difficult, emotionally demanding, and exhausting work, vitally important to our campus and students.”

One student comment summed up the sentiment of many by saying, “I came into this class pretty much blind and I’m leaving it with an entirely new perspective,” while a different student wrote that Berry “embodies the St. Lawrence values of being a global citizen and a life-long commitment of service at his core.” 

Another student wrote that Berry “has a presence on this campus that reflects his compassion and dedication to his students. Professors and students alike speak incredibly highly of him. He wants all students (not just his own) to succeed both in the classroom as well as outside of it. He genuinely cares about his students,” and encourages them “to branch out and think critically about established systems of our society and what their implications are. He wants students to try out ideas not just try to find the 'right' answer; it is about the journey of discovery, confusion, knowledge, and the possibility of understanding ourselves and the world around us a little better.”