Associate Teaching Professor Nathan Altice wins Distinguished Teaching Award

Nathan Altice, an associate teaching professor of computational media at the Baskin School of Engineering, has been recognized with the UC Santa Cruz Committee on Teaching’s 2023-24 Distinguished Teaching Award. 

He was awarded for his role in promoting inclusive teaching methods and driving transformative change in the teaching culture within the Computational Media department.

“Beyond excelling in his own classroom, he has been exceptional in supporting fellow departmental faculty, fostering collaboration, and sharing innovative teaching practices,” wrote his nominators. “His dedication to engaging students has not only earned him recognition but also established him as one of the most popular instructors in the department, contributing significantly to a positive and impactful teaching culture beyond his computational media classroom, and across campus.”

Altice teaches classes on game design, programming, and media theory, and his research focuses on the history of computing, Japanese game history, and game adaptations. His first book, “I AM ERROR,” was published by MIT Press in 2015. He also runs the Analog Joy Club, an archival site dedicated to the research, translation, and exhibition of historical Japanese board, card, war, and role-playing games.

The annual Distinguished Teaching Award recognizes outstanding teaching at UCSC and is open to all faculty, teaching professors, and Unit 18 lecturers. The award acknowledges pedagogical contributions that include but also go beyond any one course, and it seeks to recognize an instructor who has made significant contributions to educational equity within and beyond UC Santa Cruz.