Five CU faculty join ranks of President’s Teaching Scholars
The University of Colorado has added five new members of the President’s Teaching Scholars Program (PTSP), which recognizes CU faculty who skillfully integrate teaching and research at an exceptional level.
The title of President’s Teaching Scholar honors excellence in and commitment to learning and teaching, as well as active, substantial contributions to scholarly work. President Todd Saliman solicits annual nominations of faculty across the four campuses for the designation, which is a lifetime appointment.
The 2026 President’s Teaching Scholar designees are:
- Laith Al-Shawaf, Ph.D., professor, Department of Psychology, University of Colorado Colorado Springs
- Frederic Bloom, J.D., professor, Colorado Law, University of Colorado Boulder
- Jeffrey Nytch, D.M.A., professor, College of Music, University of Colorado Boulder
- Jennifer Reich, Ph.D., professor, Department of Sociology, University of Colorado Denver
- Jennifer Trujillo, PharmD., professor and associate dean for education, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Colorado Anschutz
Learn more about this year's designees:
Laith Al-Shawaf is a professor and co-director of undergraduate education in the Department of Psychology at UCCS. He is an internationally recognized scholar in evolutionary psychology and emotion science, noted for his ability to integrate high-level research with innovative teaching practices.
He received the UCCS campus-wide Students’ Choice Educator of the Year Award (2022) and the UCCS College of Letters, Arts and Sciences Outstanding Teacher Award for online teaching (2023). His teaching approach emphasizes critical inquiry, the philosophy of science, and the connection between psychology and other disciplines such as biology and anthropology. He utilizes a variety of methods – including lectures, demonstrations and class experiments – to engage students in both online and in-person formats.
Al-Shawaf is dedicated to inclusive teaching, drawing on his background as a Lebanese immigrant to create a welcoming environment for students from diverse backgrounds. He has authored 61 peer-reviewed articles, 12 book chapters, and co-edited “The Oxford Handbook of Evolution and the Emotions” (2024). He is the recipient of numerous research honors, including the Human Behavior and Evolution Society (HBES) Early Career Award (2024) and the HBES Fellow Award (2025).
Frederic Bloom is a professor of law at the University of Colorado Law School who instructs foundational and complex legal courses, including Civil Procedure, Evidence and Federal Courts. His pedagogical approach relies on a “soft Socratic” dialogue: He assigns individual students to specialize in specific evidentiary rules or legal doctrines, fostering a sustained, semester-long conversation that encourages peer-to-peer learning. To ensure the practical relevance of these historically dense subjects, Bloom authors his own comprehensive course materials and actively researches the real-world contexts of canonical cases, which includes traveling to the original sites of legal disputes and interviewing the individuals involved.
His instructional methods emphasize accessibility and critical thinking, and he regularly provides student feedback through open office hours, voluntary midterms and individualized assignment reviews. Through this methodical approach to course design, he maintains consistently high student evaluations and has been recognized with the law school’s Teacher of the Year award numerous times during his tenure.
Bloom’s scholarship primarily focuses on the structure, jurisdiction and methodology of the federal courts, yielding publications in prominent academic journals such as the Stanford Law Review, Michigan Law Review and University of Chicago Law Review. He has also authored and co-authored casebooks and teacher manuals for Civil Procedure and Evidence. Within the university setting, his service contributions include multiple terms as the associate dean for faculty affairs and research, extensive work on the campus-wide Vice Chancellor’s Advisory Committee evaluating tenure and promotion cases, and serving as the long-time faculty adviser for the Colorado Law Review.
Jeffrey Nytch is a professor of composition and entrepreneurship at the CU Boulder College of Music. He is recognized as a pioneering national thought leader in arts entrepreneurship education.
Throughout his 16-year tenure as director of the Entrepreneurship Center for Music, he fundamentally transformed how music students prepare for their careers, most notably by developing an innovative Certificate in Music Entrepreneurship in partnership with the Leeds School of Business. His pedagogy is highly engaging and empathetic, utilizing active learning, interactive “games” and a dynamic presentation style that students praise for making dry topics – like taxes for freelancers – deeply relevant and accessible.
An accomplished composer whose works have been performed at major venues such as Carnegie Hall, Nytch successfully models a dual-career trajectory, passing his real-world expertise to his students through unparalleled mentorship that has led to numerous student-launched businesses and New Venture Challenge victories. His teaching has been recognized with the 2025 Frank Moyes Award for Entrepreneurship Education and the 2020 Sharon T. Alpi Award for Innovative Pedagogy. Letters from students and faculty describe him as an adaptable, profoundly impactful educator with an exemplary record of service and continuous and ongoing pedagogical growth.
Jennifer Reich is a professor of sociology and the director of the University Honors and Leadership (UHL) Program at CU Denver. She is an internationally recognized scholar known for her award-winning research on gender, families and vaccine hesitancy, which has made her a highly sought-after public intellectual.
As an educator, Reich exhibits superlative classroom engagement and a commitment to intellectual rigor. Her pedagogy is deeply student-centered: She integrates high-impact practices and active learning into her curricula, skillfully translating her rigorous qualitative research methods into accessible, empowering lessons for her students. Whether teaching advanced graduate seminars or introductory honors courses, she is celebrated for her ability to foster an environment of intellectual excitement and discovery, demanding excellence while consistently meeting diverse students where they are.
Beyond the classroom, Reich’s qualifications are distinguished by her transformative programmatic leadership and unparalleled dedication to mentorship. Recognizing that honors programs can often be elitist, she radically overhauled the UHL program to prioritize accessibility and inclusion, creating the highly successful Honors Scholars Program and expanding pathways for transfer, working and first-generation students.
Her deep commitment to student and faculty success is further evidenced by her receiving the 2023 Feminist Mentoring Award from Sociologists for Women in Society, reflecting her tireless support of scholars at all career stages across the country. By combining academic excellence with an anti-oppressive pedagogy and a profound dedication to equity, Reich consistently empowers marginalized students and colleagues alike.
Jennifer Trujillo is professor and associate dean for education at the University of Colorado Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. A highly distinguished educator, she is recognized for her outstanding classroom engagement and student-centered pedagogy.
She intentionally designs her courses using active learning and high-impact practices, such as incorporating “choose your own adventure” math modules and having students use and interpret continuous glucose monitors to experience the realities of diabetes management.
Trujillo’s transformative educational leadership extends well beyond the classroom. She has spearheaded comprehensive curriculum redesigns to reduce cognitive overload, successfully launched a remote Doctor of Pharmacy pathway, championed generative AI integration and trained faculty on implementing inclusive, equity-minded patient case designs.
Beyond her instructional design, Trujillo possesses a profound commitment to the scholarship of teaching and learning and unmatched dedication to mentorship. She has mentored dozens of students, pharmacy residents and junior faculty members, empowering them to pursue academic careers, publish research and assume leadership roles.
Her sustained excellence is reflected in consistently outstanding teaching evaluations and numerous accolades, including the 2024 Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2023 Faculty Member of Distinction Award and her 2025 appointment as a Senior Fellow in the Academy of Medical Educators.