In recognition of his teaching and course development, Jaffe was awarded the Science Council Prize for Excellence in Teaching Undergraduates (1983), the Graduate Student Council Teaching Award (1988), and the Physics Department Buechner Teaching Prize both in 1997 and again (jointly with Washington Taylor) in 2009. In January 1998, Jaffe was named a Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow in recognition of his contributions to MIT’s teaching program. In 2000, Jaffe was appointed as the Otto and Jane Morningstar Professor of Science at MIT. He was awarded the 2022 Joseph A. Burton Forum Award by the American Physical Society for “bringing a physics perspective into policy discussions in academia and government over the last half-century, from the development of the Stanford Workshops on Social and Political Issues to influential work on policy and education regarding critical elements, energy, and climate.”