Professor Levent Tuncel was announced a winner of the 2014 University of Waterloo Distinguished Teacher Award. This prestigious award is presented to four faculty members each year at the spring convocation.
Levent was recognized for his exceptional contribution to teaching undergraduate and graduate optimization courses, as well as for playing an integral role in developing and redesigning courses for the Combinatorics and Optimization department.
Levent has earned a reputation for setting very high standards, yet being very consistent and fair in his dealings with students. One student wrote "I feel that he really pushes the students to their limit, and now that I'm pursuing a PhD in math, I really appreciate his classes - they were probably the best preparations for graduate school I got from Waterloo." Students also praised him for his work ethic and dedication, writing that Levent "was the most well-prepared lecturer I have had in a mathematics course at Waterloo" and "[h]is dedication to being there for students is also unrivaled".
As well as being an outstanding teacher and researcher, Levent has served terms as the department's associate chair for undergraduate studies and associate chair for graduate studies. He served for two years as the Faculty of Mathematics Associate Dean for Graduate Studies, and tirelessly advocated for excellence in the faculty's graduate programs.