Istvan Varkonyi, associate professor of German in the College of Liberal Arts, was honored with the "Faculty of the Game" award during the Temple men’s basketball game  Jan. 11. This past summer, Varkonyi taught a University Seminar course titled Tale of Two Cities: Paris and Rome—Histories, Legends, Imaginations. The Temple men’s basketball team studied with Varkonyi while traveling and playing exhibition basketball in Europe.

Varkonyi has been teaching at Temple since 1989 and has served as chair of the French, German, Italian, Slavic Languages Department and director of the University Intellectual Heritage Program. In 2007, he was named Temple University Honors Professor of the Year. Varkonyi became director of the Temple University General Education Program in 2010.