Robert B. Goldberg

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Each year, Bob Goldberg’s students start out complaining about the workload in his biology classes. And each year, they end up praising the courses as the finest they have had at UCLA.

A specialist in challenging complacency, Bob creates a rigorous, imaginative intellectual environment that requires students to help design, participate in and take responsibility for their education. Beyond forcing students to address the historical significance, social implications and ethical considerations of the subject matter, he employs an array of techniques to engage and excite their minds. He uses movies to stimulate discussion. He requires students to read at least one popular nonfiction book and write at least one paper, providing them with a writing experience in a science class and a chance to learn about the personal side of science. He requires each class to write, produce, perform and videotape a movie that they turn in as a class project. He writes plays that deal with real-life issues and has students perform them in class, encouraging them to react as mayors, city council members, scientists, EPA agents and homeowners. He opens his home to his students in order to stimulate student-professor exchanges in an informal atmosphere. While this kind of commitment would be unusual in a class of biology majors, Bob has consistently directed the majority of his teaching efforts to undergraduate non-majors.

The result is evident in Bob’s course evaluations. Student after student expresses delight at having learned and accomplished more than he or she ever thought possible. For both Bob and his students, it’s a remarkable personal achievement, an educational legacy that will endure a lifetime.