Prof. Pablo Toral earns teaching award for taking learning beyond the classroom
Professor Pablo Toral, the 2022-23 Phee Boon Kang Prize for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring honor, provides guidance, inspiration, and rapport to Beloit College students.
Beloit College political science professorPablo Toralhas won the 2022-23 Phee Boon Kang Prize for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring for supporting and engaging a generation of students.
Credit: Howard Korn’87Toral is unfailingly generous with his time, and students flock to his office at all hours for guidance, inspiration, and comfortable rapport.
“Pablo challenges each student to think beyond the ‘bubble’ of our current education and ideals,” one student says. “But beyond the classroom, he truly cares about Beloit and its students. You can find Pablo on all the intramural teams and finding methods of connecting with students.”
Students nominate faculty for theKang Prize,and a committee of faculty, staff, and a student selects the winner.
Students offer glowing reviews of Toral’s mentoring, his help securing internships and jobs, and his willingness to write recommendation letters, even on short notice. One advisee called Toral “an amazing mentor,” while another grateful student wrote, “Most of the things I have achieved during my time here at Beloit were because of him.”
Credit: Pablo ToralToral, who joined the college in 2003, teaches international relations and comparative politics courses, with a focus on Latin America, the European Union, international political economy, sustainable development, and environmental politics. Hissummer courseat the Coe Wilderness Station in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters is a popular learning adventure for students.
Toral is a stalwart of theenvironmental studies programand a major contributor to the college’sSustainability Career Channel, one of eight such channels that help students experience working in and learning about particular fields. He received the Underkofler Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, the college’s top teaching honor, in 2016. Toral also serves on the City of Beloit Plan Commission.
A native of Spain, Toral earned his undergraduate degree in information sciences from Universidad Complutense (Madrid, Spain), and an M.A. and Ph.D. in international relations from Florida International University in Miami. The author or co-author of three books and numerous articles and book chapters, he is currently at work on two books on Latin America.
The Phee Boon Kang Prize for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring recognizes and honors faculty or staff members for their excellent advising and mentoring and is supported by Phee Boon Kang, a 1973 Beloit graduate and Board of Trustees member.