Thirteen faculty members have been chosen to receive this year’s Distinguished Teaching Awards, an honor given out since 1953 to recognize some of the university’s finest educators. A ceremony will take place at 5 p.m. April 16 in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union to honor the recipients.
Among this year’s honorees are two faculty members with the School of Education. They are:
Emily Machado
Chancellor’s Inclusive Excellence Teaching Award
An assistant professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Machado brings her rich scholarly perspectives to the classroom, creating space for her graduate and undergraduate students to grapple with how to create equitable, inclusive, and humanizing education for young multilingual children as they expand their abilities to read and write. She excels in building relationships with students and creating classroom environments of care and support. Machado prioritizes student interaction and creates assignments that consider student interests. She seamlessly blends theory and practice, weaving into her instruction critical ideas and concepts with examples from her own experiences as a teacher and researcher of young children. She helps students make connections with their own lives and experiences, and apply what they are learning to educational contexts and their own future careers. Machado brings joy to learning and fosters excitement among students for education and their own pathways as educators.
Travis Wright
Excellence in Community-Based Learning Teaching Award
Wright is an associate professor in the Department of Counseling Psychology. A centerpiece of his contributions to UW–Madison and the larger Madison community has been his partnership with the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD), initially funded by a Baldwin Award, to develop the BASES (Building Academic, Social, and Emotional Supports) project — a mentoring and teacher development program aimed at improving outcomes for children experiencing homelessness. The BASES project has facilitated over 14,000 hours of direct student support in MMSD classrooms over the past 11 years. This initiative grew out of Wright’s research on resilience and the importance of the student-teacher relationship, and it embodies the Wisconsin Idea of putting research into action to benefit the community. Wright clearly believes each of us can change the world and inspires students to make a difference in the lives of others.
Read about all of the 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award winners.