Every year, the Charles W. Duncan Achievement Award for Outstanding Faculty is given to at least one Rice faculty member. Candidates must be considered to be a standout in both the areas of teaching and scholarship -- qualifications that can make it difficult to find a winner.

This year, however, two Rice faculty won the award: Brett Ashley Leeds, the Albert Thomas Associate Professor of Political Science, and Shih-Hui Chen, associate professor of composition and theory at the Shepherd School of Music.

Shih-Hui Chen

Chen, a recipient of awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2007), the Koussevitzky Music Foundation Commission (2004), a Guggenheim Fellowship (2000), and an American Academy in Rome Prize (1999) said she was surprised and honored to be considered for the Duncan award.

"I can think of many faculty members at the Shepherd School and in other parts of Rice that also deserve this award,” Chen said. “Everyone that I have met at Rice works incredibly hard at trying to balance their professional responsibilities with their teaching responsibilities, not to mention their family life.

"I am very happy that my professional career continues to develop, and am thrilled that the energy and effort I invest in teaching have been rewarded by my students and the university," she said.

In addition to her normal course load, Chen also chaired the Syzygy committee, a contemporary music concert series at the Shepherd School, this past year. She is currently working on a new work for the Formosa Quartet, the 2006 First Prize and Amadeus Prize winners in the 10th London International String Quartet Competition, to be premiered in June at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, at their England tour in October and their Lincoln Center debut in December.

In spite of her busy schedule, Chen said she wouldn't change a thing.

"I feel very fortunate to be teaching in one of the best music schools in the country where excellent musicians are trained for the future,” Chen said. “ One day, I firmly believe that my students will be standing in a similar place as I am today, educating and making music professionally. This thought helps me to remember that my teaching responsibilities are not trivial: teaching has important consequences."