Terence Blanchard receives the Gutenberg Teaching Award from JGU Mainz for his extraordinary work as a musician, composer and, in particular, as a dedicated teacher and mentor. As a celebrated jazz trumpeter, opera and film composer, he has released over 20 albums and composed the music for more than 60 films. He has won several Grammy Awards and has twice been nominated for an Oscar for Best Film Score.

At the center of his award, however, is Blanchard’s visionary role as an educator. He is considered one of the most influential jazz teachers of our time and has shaped institutions such as the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz (formerly the Thelonious Monk Institute). Blanchard has taught at renowned universities such as the Berklee College of Music in Boston and the University of Miami and in 2023 took over as artistic director of SFJAZZ in San Francisco, an organization that reaches over 250,000 people a year with a wide range of educational programs and concerts. In his teaching, Blanchard emphasizes composition as a starting point for creative development. He promotes an experimental, equal learning environment in which every idea counts – regardless of origin or gender. For him, jazz education is a “laboratory” that should enable young people not only to play, but also to develop their own musical visions. He also embodies this attitude as a bandleader by constantly promoting young talent.

Blanchard’s commitment to social justice also flows into his work as a teacher. He sees music as a means of enlightenment, dialog and encouragement. His work is an appeal to responsibility and humanity – and thus an outstanding example of the combination of artistic excellence and educational mission.

Prof. Dr. h. c. John Hattie is awarded the Gutenberg Teaching Award 2023 by the GTC at the suggestion of the Faculty 02, in recognition of his more than 30 years of research in the fields of Educational Science and Educational Psychology. Among other things, John Hattie has conducted extensive programs of study and meta-studies on the effects of feedback on the learning success of learners of all ages, from elementary school to university. Essentially, his work and the programs of study inspired by his publications in various institutions and across a variety of disciplines have shown that teachers, with their skills in shaping relationships and communication, have a demonstrably substantial – and also clearly quantifiable – influence on learning success.

John Hattie has prepared these findings for academic teaching and school practice, for example in his work “Visible Learning for Teachers” (2013). John Hattie’s work is highly relevant for students on teacher education degree programs and provides impetus for university teaching.

John Hattie is a professor at the University of Melbourne. He is an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM), appointed by Queen Elizabeth II, and holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Augsburg.

Prof. Mills Kelly is awarded the Gutenberg Teaching Award 2019 by the GTC at the suggestion of Faculty 07. This is in recognition of his special achievements in the field of didactic teaching methods. Prof. Kelly makes a special contribution to the further development of digital, university and historical teaching by not shying away from unconventional ways of integrating students into long-term projects between research and teaching, thus anchoring the grant of skills in the areas of data literacy in teaching. Mills Kelly is Professor of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia (USA), and focuses on European history, public history and digital methods in historical studies. He is also involved in various institutions, such as the “International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning” (ISSOTL) and the “Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in History” (HistorySOTL). His current project on digital public history deals with the history of the Appalachian Trail.

Prof. Dr. h. c. Geoffrey Brennan is being honored with the Gutenberg Teaching Award 2018 for his development and leadership of innovative interdisciplinary degree programs that combine the different disciplines of Philosophy, Political Science and Economics, as well as his decades-long commitment to young researchers. Geoffrey Brennan is Professor Emeritus at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, Duke University in Durham, North Carolina (USA), and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has received international recognition for his exceptional commitment to teaching, particularly for the development of innovative bachelor’s programs at the intersection of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE).

Prof. Dr. Musa W. Dube, University of Botswana, nominated by Faculty 01, has made special contributions to the grant of an HIV/AIDS-sensitive curriculum in theological training, African biblical studies and the promotion of young researchers in African women theology. She is a leading New Testament scholar in Africa and one of the leading representatives of the “Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians”. Her work has made a significant contribution to the self-confidence of African lecturers and students. She is being honored for her achievements with the Gutenberg Teaching Award 2017.

The prizewinner visited Johannes Gutenberg University in the fall of 2017 and received the prize at the DIES LEGENDI on October 26.

Professor Carl Edwin Wieman, Stanford University USA, Professor of Physics and Professor of the Graduate School of Education, is being honored with the Gutenberg Teaching Award 2016 at the suggestion of Faculty 08. The Nobel laureate in the field of quantum optics has worked intensively on the teaching of natural sciences, technology and mathematics and has established new, scientifically based methods. In 2007, he founded the Carl Wieman Science Educational Initiative CWSEI at the University of British Columbia, which – divided into different natural sciences areas – is concerned with the respective scientifically and subject didactics-based knowledge transfer and training of bachelor’s and teaching degree students. A variety of materials and instructions for teachers and students are provided in the form of writings, videos, internet resources and programs for modern media and teaching approaches, with a focus on methods of interactive teaching and self-activating learning. The PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder, founded by Wieman in 2002, supports higher education institutions in the evidence-based development of concepts. The interactive online experiments are very stimulating for students and teaching staff in the experimental sciences. Wieman’s approaches are already widely used in the English-speaking world. JGU is looking forward to an exchange with Professor Wieman about his teaching approaches during the presentation of the Gutenberg Teaching Award and a guest stay at JGU.

The GTC presented Prof. Masaaki Suzuki with the Gutenberg Teaching Award at the suggestion of the Mainz School of Music. Masaaki Suzuki is a conductor and the founder and head of the Bach Collegium Japan. He has rendered outstanding services to the further development of academic teaching in the instrumental subjects, conducting and singing by opening up his pedagogical work across subject and cultural boundaries. Suzuki accepted the award in person during 2016 and presented his interdisciplinary teaching approach at JGU. In addition to an interdisciplinary exchange with teaching staff, a work phase and a concert with the Baroque Vocal Excellence Program took place as part of his guest stay at JGU.

Prof. Dr. John Greenfield from the University of Porto received the Gutenberg Teaching Award for his commitment to the internationalization of academic teaching: He developed and supervised a pioneering master’s degree programme “German Literature of the Middle Ages in the European Context” as well as the Erasmus Mundus master’s degree “German Literature in the European Middle Ages” GLITEMA. John Greenfield was awarded the prize at the DIES LEGENDI 2014.