The UW–Madison School of Education would like to congratulate the recipients of our 2024 Distinguished Achievement Awards. The School’s highly regarded national reputation is due, in large part, to the dedication and talent of our faculty, staff, and students. Thank you to our award winners for your outstanding efforts.
Ann Wallace Academic Staff Distinguished Achievement Awards
University Staff Distinguished Achievement Award
Award for Community-Engaged Scholarship
Faculty Distinguished Achievement Awards
Excellence in Diversity Award
Dick & Julie Daly Award for Education Student Staff Achievement
Ann Wallace Academic Staff Distinguished Achievement Awards
The Ann Wallace Academic Staff Distinguished Achievement Award recognizes a staff member’s impact on the mission of the unit and their outstanding performance in that unit.
Shari Clark
Department of Kinesiology, Master of Science in Athletic Training Program
Shari Clark’s nominators and supporters all attest to her exceptional contributions as an educator, clinical coordinator, and mentor within the Department of Kinesiology’s Master of Science in Athletic Training (MSAT) program.
For over 15 years she has taught demanding clinical medicine courses as well as evaluation and therapeutic interventions content within the Athletic Training program. In a nomination letter signed by multiple faculty members, Athletic Training program director Andy Winterstein writes that she is an exceptional instructor who “brings creativity and energy to her classroom,” even as she challenges students in positive ways.
Winterstein adds: “Shari not only brings skills and knowledge in specific content areas, but she also goes above and beyond and brings a caring and thoughtfulness to her teaching and student interactions that are the essence of student-centered learning.”
Clark’s students agree. “Shari is an amazing educator and leader in our program,” Riley Hertford, a second-year Athletic Training student, writes in a letter of support. “She helps students find their strengths and helps them continue to grow in every opportunity they have.”
In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Clark has served as the clinical education coordinator for the program. In this role she excelled in managing clinical placements across campus and in the community. She was also instrumental in the transition of Athletic Training to a master’s-level program and worked tirelessly during this transition.
Over the years Clark has shown outstanding dedication, commitment, and care for the program and students she serves. As Emily Srygler, an alumna of the program, writes in support: “To say that Shari is beloved by students both past and present is an understatement — she is a critical ally, mentor, friend, and cheerleader.”
Because of this exceptional impact, we award Shari Clark the Ann Wallace Academic Staff Distinguished Achievement Award.
University Staff Distinguished Achievement Award
The University Staff Distinguished Achievement Award recognizes a staff member’s outstanding performance on the job, initiation or recommendation of innovative ideas that are implemented and result in better service or efficiency, and exhibition of grace under pressure.
Michael Dixon
Department of Educational Policy Studies
Michael Dixon has worked for the Department of Educational Policy Studies (EPS) as the undergraduate and events coordinator since 2019.
In the past five years, Dixon has helped grow the Education Studies major from 30 students to 150. One example of his impactful work is the development of a Buddy Program to pair more experienced students in Education Studies with those who are new to the major. The Buddy Program was designed to help retain students, while enriching the undergraduate experience with mentorship and fun. Dixon was then awarded a School of Education Staff Innovation Grant in the spring of 2023 to expand the Buddy Program — and it is now making an impact on students in departments across the School.
Dixon is also credited with being instrumental in coordinating faculty candidate visits and making sure all EPS events run smoothly — which is no easy task, because most events are offered with both an in-person and virtual option.
And while it’s not noted in his job title, Dixon also leads the department’s communication efforts. This work includes posting to social media and creating the EPS Bulletin e-newsletter, which is dedicated to sharing a range of impactful and useful news related to EPS.
Writes Department Chair Lesley Bartlett: “Somehow, in the midst of these responsibilities, Mr. Dixon still makes time to help with other matters that routinely arise, such as checking out equipment, helping with purchasing, designing flyers, chasing down data, or communicating with the advising team. He is so good at responding to so many needs that we in the office recently gave him a small trophy titled, ‘Most Clutch.’ ”
We are excited to present the School of Education’s 2024 University Staff Distinguished Achievement Award to Michael Dixon.
Faculty Distinguished Achievement Awards
The Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award recognizes faculty members who have made contributions and demonstrated continued excellence in each of the three areas of teaching, research, and service.
Linn Posey-Maddox
Department of Educational Policy Studies
Since joining the School of Education as an Anna Julia Cooper Post-Doctoral Fellow in 2009, Professor Linn Posey-Maddox has established herself as a nationally-recognized researcher, an award-winning instructor, and a trusted mentor and colleague.
Professor Posey-Maddox’s scholarship has produced groundbreaking insights on racial inequality in urban and suburban schools. Her 2014 book, “When Middle-Class Parents Choose Urban Schools: Class, Race, and the Challenge of Equity in Public Education,” offered important takeaways about the effects of middle-class parents sending their children to and engaging with urban public schools.
Her numerous publications in top-tier journals have urged scholars and educators to rethink overgeneralizations about suburban education and the complexities of parent-school relationships.
Professor Lesley Bartlett, chair of the Department of Educational Policy Studies, calls Posey-Maddox’s scholarship nothing less than “pioneering” and “phenomenal.”
A former public school teacher, Professor Posey-Maddox has also proven herself to be a stellar educator. She received campuswide teaching honors in the form of an Honored Instructor Award in both 2019 and 2014, as well as the Class of 1955 Teaching Excellence Award in 2016.
Professor Stacey Lee notes that Professor Posey-Maddox has intentionally provided publishing mentorship and co-authorship for junior scholars and graduate students, particularly those from historically marginalized groups.
Professor Posey-Maddox’s service outside the classroom includes directing the Collaborative Graduate Training Program on Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality in Education. That program offers graduate students across multiple departments with crucial training on race, ethnicity, and inequality in education. She also spearheaded the development of a new departmental certificate in Social Justice and Education, serves as a faculty senator, and holds a seat on the Morgridge Center for Public Service’s Board of Advisors.
For these reasons and many more, we are honored to present Professor Linn Posey-Maddox with the Faculty Distinguished Achievement Award.
Dick & Julie Daly Award for Education Student Staff Achievement
The Dick & Julie Daly Award for Education Student Staff Achievement recognizes a recipient who presents a positive image of the School through exceptional work and demonstrates creativity, problem-solving, excellent customer service, or other activities that go beyond the ordinary expectations of their role as a student hourly worker.
Sofie Schachter
Office of Communications and Advancement
Since the fall of 2022, Sofie Schachter has been a significant and invaluable contributor to the School of Education’s Office of Communications and Advancement.
Schachter, who is graduating in May, has been a prolific writer of news articles for the School of Education’s website. These posts showcase the remarkable work of our faculty, staff, and students. The number of news posts getting uploaded to the School’s website is staggering — with more than 300 stories being shared out in any 12-month period.
“This incredible volume of posts is the most our team has ever written and posted in my 12 years with the School — and Sofie is a key reason why this is possible,” Communications Associate Director Todd Finkelmeyer writes in his nomination letter.
Schachter has also grown as a writer and reporter, and now is contributing more in-depth articles as well. Examples of longer reports include: a Q&A with alumna Erin Roberge, who became the first full-time female athletic trainer with the Green Bay Packers; a look at how the Field Day Lab and librarians teamed over the summer to explore using virtual reality to engage rural communities with polar research; and a story about faculty member Christopher Saldaña taking part in an educational accountability briefing in Washington, D.C.
Schachter has also hand-written hundreds of short notes to donors, thanking them for their support. She has edited the closed captions on videos posted to the School’s YouTube site and has helped with School events, including last summer’s graduation celebration for our secondary master’s teaching programs.
For these reasons and more, we are thrilled to honor Sofie Schachter with the Dick & Julie Daly Award for Education Student Staff Achievement.
Award for Community-Engaged Scholarship
The Award for Community-Engaged Scholarship honors an individual who advances the Wisconsin Idea to a new level of partnership and reciprocity.
Bailey Smolarek and Matthew Wolfgram
Wisconsin Center for Education Research and Department of Educational Policy Studies
As leaders of the Student Engaged Participatory Action Research Center at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, Bailey Smolarek and Matthew Wolfgram are setting new standards of excellence for high-quality community-engaged research.
Beginning with their first community-based research project in 2017, Smolarek and Wolfgram have established and grown an academic environment that empowers students and community members as more than participants in research studies, but partners.
Their largest ongoing project is a testament to the power of those connections. The project, funded by a $2.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation, partners with HMoob-American students and communities across Wisconsin to examine the experiences of HMoob college students in STEM fields. Students involved with the project were among the nominators of Smolarek and Wolfgram for this award.
Courtney Bell, executive director of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, says the project showcases Smolarek and Wolfgram’s unfailing dedication to research that centers the experience, knowledge, priorities, and needs of their community partners. Bell calls their work “truly inspiring.”
Professor Stacey Lee notes a presentation for the project drew a standing-room-only crowd on campus, as well as local media attention. She says it should be considered a model as UW–Madison engages in more community-engaged research and policy analysis.
Smolarek and Wolfgram’s other ongoing projects involve active collaborations with refugee advocacy groups and disability justice advocates. They also continue to train and mentor graduate students, post-docs, junior faculty, and postsecondary practitioners on how to successfully administer participatory action research projects with students and community members. This work ensures the success of their own projects will help many others flourish as well.
In light of their impactful work that truly exemplifies the Wisconsin Idea, we are pleased to present the Award for Community-Engaged Scholarship to Bailey Smolarek and Matthew Wolfgram.
Excellence in Diversity Award
The Excellence in Diversity Award was established by the School of Education’s Equity and Diversity Committee in 2012. The award recognizes faculty and staff who have made significant contributions to campus climate toward building a diverse and equitable School of Education.
Anjalé D. Welton
Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis
Through her leadership, scholarship, and service, Anjalé D. Welton’s commitment to diversity from the department to the national level exemplifies the Wisconsin Idea.
An expert in the study of leadership for equity, diversity, and anti-racism, “this powerful area of focus has helped her establish a leading voice for social justice leadership among students, communities, and our profession,” writes Suzanne Eckes, the Susan S. Engeleiter Professor in Education in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, in her nomination letter.
Professor Welton’s research has advanced knowledge of dynamics that shape the work of educators and learners, and has shown how initiatives intended to create more equitable learning opportunities in historically underserved communities often end up reinforcing the very inequities these policies were intended to change.
Professor Welton uses her research to raise the voices of — and advocate on behalf of — marginalized populations. As one example, she currently serves as a member of the Coalition for Leading Anti-Racist Schools, where she leads efforts to examine discriminatory practices in K-12 schooling. She also facilitates workshops, delivers lectures, and consults with universities and school districts to foster equity-minded leadership and institutional change.
Indeed, Eckes in her nomination letter writes that Welton’s leadership in expanding learning opportunities for education leaders and students, “and how these efforts are seamlessly integrated” with her research to better serve the community, are among her most impressive accomplishments.
A professor and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA), Welton has likewise fostered an environment that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion within her department. She makes an effort to engage with both students and faculty through holding brown bags, gatherings, and individual meetings. She has also prioritized recruiting and retaining diverse faculty, helping make ELPA one of the most diverse departments on campus.
For these reasons, the School of Education enthusiastically awards her the Excellence in Diversity Award.
Special Thanks
The Ann Wallace Academic Staff Distinguished Achievement Awards are sponsored by Ann Wallace. The Faculty Achievement Awards and the University Staff Distinguished Achievement Award are supported by the Charles Read Recognition Fund. The Student Staff Achievement Awards are funded by a gift from Jo Ann Carr (Dick & Julie Daly Award for Education Student Staff Achievement) and gifts to the School of Education. The Excellence in Diversity Award and the Community-Engaged Scholarship Award are supported by gifts to the School of Education.