The UW–Madison School of Education will honor the 2025 recipients of its Rockwell Awards and Lois Gadd Nemec Elementary Education Award during a Nov. 15 celebration on campus.
The Rockwell Awards recognize exemplary teachers and other school professionals who mentor and provide high-quality field experiences to UW–Madison students preparing to work in schools. Recipients of these awards receive $1,000 each for their significant contribution to UW–Madison’s vital field experience program. The awards are made possible thanks to a generous gift from Roland and Ruth Rockwell. The Lois Gadd Nemec Elementary Education Alumni Award recognizes an outstanding alumnus of the UW–Madison elementary education program.
In addition to recognizing these outstanding educators, the School of Education will also host a series of professional development workshops on Nov. 15 for cooperating and early career teachers. The event, “American Education Week Teacher Celebration: Together We Rise,” will run from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Pyle Center on campus and feature a keynote address by a 2024 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year, Brian Collins. Collins is a science teacher at Unity High School in Balsam Lake. The event will culminate with a ceremony for the Rockwell and Gadd Nemec award winners.
2025 Rockwell Award winners:
- Anthony Cao, West High School (vocal music teacher)
Cao and colleagues - Michelle Kruse, Middleton High School (English teacher)
Kruse and colleagues - Kristen Grothman, Whitehorse Middle School (6th grade math teacher)
Grothman and colleagues - Tuyet Nguyen, Whitehorse Middle School (8th grade science teacher)
Nguyen and colleagues - Kristin Pellerin, Sandburg Elementary School (former 5th grade teacher), not pictured
Tom Owenby, associate dean for teacher education and director of the Mary T. Kellner Teacher Education Center at the UW–Madison School of Education, says the School is “beyond grateful” for the support and vital professional development opportunities that cooperating teachers provide UW–Madison’s teacher education students.
“Their expertise and mentorship have played an instrumental role in nurturing the next generation of Wisconsin teachers,” Owenby says.
2025 Lois Gadd Nemec award winner: Jennifer Diaz
The School of Education will posthumously honor Jennifer Diaz with the 2025 Lois Gadd Nemec Elementary Education Alumni Award. Diaz earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education, a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, and a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Upon completing her doctorate, she began practicing as an associate professor of education at Augsburg College. Her scholarly work focused on teacher effectiveness, interrupting “deficit narratives” in mathematics education, and identifying and challenging inequitable systems through attention to context and cultures.
Thomas Popkewitz, professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, was Diaz’s advisor during her doctoral studies. Popkewitz refers to Diaz’s research as “a substantial contribution for understanding the politics of school knowledge and the limits and contemporary curriculum reforms.”
“Her research started with a simple but profound observation related to the equal sign,” Popkewitz says. “While seen as a purely logical symbol, her studies connect the notion of equivalence in teaching children mathematics to social and cultural principles about differences.”
Known to many as “Jennie,” Diaz practiced as a first and second grade teacher between 2004-2009 in both the Madison Metropolitan and McFarland school districts. Her contributions to teacher education through academic scholarship and teaching — along with her mentorship, leadership, and service in the field of education — has had a lasting impact on the lives she touched.
Kristin Papoi, a graduate of the Curriculum and Instruction doctoral program and clinical associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), says Diaz informed and influenced her work as program director of the Master of Arts in Teaching program at UNC.
“I leaned into the practices and stances I learned from Jennie to design our program’s reflective seminars, student teacher reflective journaling, and supervision model and training,” Papoi said in her nomination letter for Diaz. “Jennie’s scholarly work in education has made a profound impact on those within the education community of the Madison area and far beyond.”
Kathryn Kirchgasler, assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, recalled in her nomination letter that Diaz once reflected that “everything and everyone was a teacher.”
“And her own vocation as a teacher, teacher educator, and scholar embodied the humility, wisdom, and passionate demand for equality that this statement expresses,” Kirchgasler said. “She not only believed but embodied this calm assurance of the inherent equality of every person.”
The School of Education is honored to recognize Jennifer Diaz and express our gratitude for her contributions with the Nemec Award.