Indian graduate student wins ‘Excellence In Teaching’ award at UChicago

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Varun Ahluwalia, a former public servant in the Indian government, has been named the 2019 winner of the Wayne C. Booth Prize for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Chicago, Illinois.

Ahluwalia, who is in the Harris School’s Master of Public Policy program, was among four winners of the prize, the other three being Gregory Rassolov, Brooke Weigel and Alexander Wolfson.

The Prize is awarded annually to graduate students for ‘outstanding instruction of undergraduates,” a press release on the university website says.

In India, Ahluwalia worked in several positions from the central police force to deputy accountant general for Punjab, according to the press release.

A mechanical engineer by training, Ahluwalia has been studying economics at UChicago, and teaching the economics core sequence to undergrads and a microeconomics course to business students.

Ahluwalia expects his studies at this American university will help him with his public sector work in India. “I hope to eventually earn a PhD in public policy and economics, building a foundation of theory that can inform public policies in India,” he is quoted saying in the press release.

Ahluwalia and the other recipients of the Prize were nominated by students and faculty in the College