College of Engineering Recognizes Prof. William Putnam with the 2019-2020 Best Teaching Award

College of Engineering has recognized one outstanding teacher from each department with the Best Teaching awards. ECE Prof. William Putnam received this award in 2020. This award recognizes faculty who show a strong commitment to the college's mission and vision and consistently perform above and beyond to train and create the next generation of engineers and leaders. These award recipients were nominated and selected by their respective departments.

Prof. Putnam joined the ECE department a little more than a year ago after graduating from MIT and spending a short time in the industry. He demonstrated extraordinary teaching skills and received a student evaluation of 5.00 out of 5.00 for large undergraduate courses, unprecedented in our department for someone at this career stage.  

Students shared their enthusiastic video testimonials with us on his exemplary teaching skills. One student summarized his/her experience saying, “…It’s not often I walk away from a class wishing it was longer so that I could learn more.” Another student said, “The instructor is amazing at structuring really complicated material. The teaching style and organization has been the best that I've ever seen.” A third student mentioned that “He does a great job of teaching because he is able to perceive what a students is asking when they don't always know the right words to ask it, and the student doesn't feel spurned for asking elementary questions.”

Prof. Putnam’s style represents ECE department’s culture of caring and commitment for our students and aligns well with the College of Engineering and the UC Davis Principles of Community. 

Please join us in congratulating, Professor Putnam, and click the link here to view the video presentation of Professor Putnam's award.