The recipients of the 2024 Wisconsin Universities Board of Regents 32nd annual Teaching Excellence Award were announced on April 1.
The awards are handed out to recognize outstanding career achievements in teaching and is Wisconsin Universities’ highest recognition for members of their faculty and academic staff according to a press release from Wisconsin Universities.
This year’s awards were a unique event, as all three recipients were professors of Education or with a focus on Education.
The three awardees, Donald Hones of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Rebecca Stevens of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and the Special Education Department at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, were honored at a ceremony held April 5 at a Regents Meeting.
Hones has been a faculty member of UW-Oshkosh since 1997 and serves as a professor of English as a Second Language (ESL) and Bilingual Education in the Department of Teaching in Learning.
Stevens started her career as an accountant before joining the UW Stevens Point English faculty in 1998. She is both an English professor and the department chair.
Department Chair Amy Stevens accepted the UW-Whitewater’s Special Education Department award. This department is the only one within the Wisconsin Universities system and has existed for over fifty years. It both prepares educators to work within the field of Special Education and helps those with special needs.
Music professor Erin Aldridge of UW-Superior was one of last year’s award recipients. Aldridge is a professor of violin and a director of orchestra at UWS.