Shady Side Academy Teacher Receives 2012 Yale Educator Award

One of 90 Recognized for Inspiring Students to Achieve Excellence

FOX CHAPEL – Shady Side Academy Senior School mathematics and philosophy teacher Dr. John Sutula was chosen as a recipient of the 2012 Yale Educator Award, which is awarded to outstanding educators from around the globe whose work inspires their students to strive for excellence at the highest level.

Matriculating students at Yale were asked to nominate educators that inspired them in high school, and the pool was then evaluated by a committee of Yale admissions officers. This year, 274 educators were nominated, and the 90 recipients represented 33 states and 12 countries. Sutula was one of four recipients from Pennsylvania and the only winner from the western part of the state.

Dr. Sutula was nominated by SSA alumnus and Yale freshman Yuval Ben-David ‘12, who convinced the Department of Undergraduate Admissions at Yale that Sutula had a critical role in encouraging him to pursue his goals.

Dr. Sutula has been teaching mathematics and philosophy at Shady Side Academy since 1979. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Ohio State University, an M.A. in philosophy from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and an M.S. and B.S. in electrical engineering from Rutgers University. Before coming to Shady Side, he did research at Bell Labs, worked for the Peace Corps, and taught at the State University of New York Amherst and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.