Dr. Indira Gil, a key member of the Brown University Department of Education, has been honored with the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. This prestigious recognition is reserved for faculty who demonstrate sustained, exceptional commitment to teaching. Nominated by colleagues and students, Dr. Gil is celebrated as an educator whose impact resonates long after her students leave the classroom.
A Philosophy Rooted in Justice and Care
For Dr. Gil, teaching is not merely a profession; it is a meticulously honed craft. While her early career was defined by making mathematics accessible through diverse entry points and real-world connections, her approach has evolved into something more holistic. Today, she views every pedagogical decision as a reflection of her core beliefs in justice, inclusion, and the care of the whole student.
“When I plan a lesson, I don’t just see an agenda,” Dr. Gil explains. “I think about what I want my students to grapple with, to feel, and to experience.”
In her introductory courses, she guides students through a "deep dive" into their own educational histories. By examining how power relations function within public education, students learn to disrupt harmful beliefs and develop a complex understanding of the system. In her STEM-focused work, she pushes students to define what culturally responsive and sustaining pedagogy looks like in practice. For her student teachers in the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program, the goal is the same: to embody these values in their own future classrooms.
Where Research Meets the Classroom
Dr. Gil’s research and teaching exist in a constant, symbiotic loop. She is currently investigating how equity-focused coursework impacts a teacher's self-efficacy when working with diverse populations.
“In my role, I am positioned to not only teach teachers but also observe them in action within our community middle and high schools,” she says. “I see what I model in the university classroom being put into practice. Those observations inform my lessons, shift my objectives, and spark the research questions that eventually flourish into full-scale projects.”
A Legacy of Opening Doors
Her passion for this work is deeply personal. Over twenty years ago, Dr. Gil joined the NYC Teaching Fellows program to teach mathematics in the Bronx. Her goal was to serve children whose lives reflected her own—multilingual students of color and recent immigrants to the United States.
“I imagined the many ways I could cultivate a love for mathematics in them,” she recalls. “As I moved into teaching how to teach, I became even more passionate about ensuring the doors are open for everyone to pursue the life they envision. That journey requires access to rigorous, inclusive math.”
While her expertise is rooted in the numbers, her heart remains with her students. “What truly keeps me passionate is the dedication of the undergraduate and MAT students I work with,” says Dr. Gil. “Their commitment to equity brings the spark and the joy to this field.”
Through her research, her mentorship, and her unwavering focus on the "human" side of the education system, Dr. Gil continues to prove that excellence in teaching is as much about the heart as it is about the mind.