Prof. Pablo Toral earns teaching award for taking learning beyond the classroom

Professor Pablo Toral, the 2022-23 Phee Boon Kang Prize for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring honor, provides guidance, inspiration, and rapport to Beloit College students.

Beloit College political science professor Pablo Toral has won the 2022-23 Phee Boon Kang Prize for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring for supporting and engaging a generation of students.

Pablo Toral teaches a political science class in Morse-Ingersoll Hall. Pablo Toral teaches a political science class in Morse-Ingersoll Hall.
Credit: Howard Korn’87
Toral is unfailingly generous with his time, and students flock to his office at all hours for guidance, inspiration, and comfortable rapport.


“Pablo challenges each student to think beyond the ‘bubble’ of our current education and ideals,” one student says. “But beyond the classroom, he truly cares about Beloit and its students. You can find Pablo on all the intramural teams and finding methods of connecting with students.”

Students nominate faculty for the Kang Prize, and a committee of faculty, staff, and a student selects the winner.

Students offer glowing reviews of Toral’s mentoring, his help securing internships and jobs, and his willingness to write recommendation letters, even on short notice. One advisee called Toral “an amazing mentor,” while another grateful student wrote, “Most of the things I have achieved during my time here at Beloit were because of him.”

Students in Pablo Toral's Environmental Justice course at the Wilderness Field Station in the Boundary Waters. Students in Pablo Toral's Environmental Justice course at the Wilderness Field Station in the Boundary Waters.
Credit: Pablo Toral
Toral, who joined the college in 2003, teaches international relations and comparative politics courses, with a focus on Latin America, the European Union, international political economy, sustainable development, and environmental politics. His
summer course at the Coe Wilderness Station in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters is a popular learning adventure for students.

Toral is a stalwart of the environmental studies program and a major contributor to the college’s Sustainability Career Channel, one of eight such channels that help students experience working in and learning about particular fields. He received the Underkofler Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award, the college’s top teaching honor, in 2016. Toral also serves on the City of Beloit Plan Commission.

A native of Spain, Toral earned his undergraduate degree in information sciences from Universidad Complutense (Madrid, Spain), and an M.A. and Ph.D. in international relations from Florida International University in Miami. The author or co-author of three books and numerous articles and book chapters, he is currently at work on two books on Latin America.

The Phee Boon Kang Prize for Excellence in Advising and Mentoring recognizes and honors faculty or staff members for their excellent advising and mentoring and is supported by Phee Boon Kang, a 1973 Beloit graduate and Board of Trustees member.

April 06, 2023

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