Dan Cahoy, professor of business law, Dean’s Faculty Fellow in Business Law, and research director for the Center for the Business of Sustainability, was one of two recipients of Penn State’s 2021 Milton S. Eisenhower Award for Distinguished Teaching.
The award recognizes excellence in teaching and student support among tenured faculty who have been employed full time for at least five years with undergraduate teaching as a major portion of their duties. Milton S. Eisenhower, brother of former U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, served as president of Penn State from 1950 to 1956.
Cahoy is known for employing creative ways to encourage student participation. For example, in his advanced classes, he holds mock business negotiations, uses real-world intellectual property databases to map innovation whitespace (figure out where there is freedom to operate without conflict or infringement), and discusses cases and articles through a relaxed Socratic method.
During a study abroad class in Florence, Italy, he and his students frequently traveled outside the classroom to tour places such as da Vinci’s birthplace, the cradle of invention.
“The experiences have been life-changing,” Cahoy says. “I believe that only by one-on-one engagement can one truly appreciate whether one’s teaching is actually effective.”
