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Applied Language and Speech Sciences Ph.D. candidate Megan Quebedeaux has received the 2022 Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award.

The award recognizes Quebedeaux’s exceptional contributions as the official instructor of record for teaching in the Department of Communicative Disorders in the spring and fall of 2021. 

She joined the Applied Language and Speech Sciences program after several years as a middle school English Language Arts teacher. Her doctoral work has focused on language and literacy theory and pedagogy in both typical and diagnosed populations.

While teaching CODI 275: Language Acquisition, in particular, Quebedeaux garnered a reputation in the classroom and beyond.

“The ‘buzz’ around the department started about mid-term of Megan’s first semester teaching this course,” recalls Dr. Holly Damico, Hawthorne-BORSF Endowed Professor of Communicative Disorders and graduate coordinator for the department.

While observing a class — held remotely on Zoom due to the pandemic — Damico noted that “I joined right at the start time of class, 8 a.m., to find every registered student already logged in, video cameras all on, wide awake and eager.”

For the first few minutes of class, Quebedeaux greeted each student by name and engaged in casual conversation.

“Even though this community had not been in the same room together, there was comradery and a sense of enjoyment in this remote space,” Damico says. 

Quebedeaux views openness to different perspectives and respect for individual learners as central to her teaching philosophy.

“In recognizing that each individual brings different cultures and background knowledge, I understand that as an educator I must tailor learning experiences to fit the needs of each individual learner,” she says.

She welcomes each student to be an active participant in class discussions.

“They must be allowed to explore, debate, and even disagree with one another, as well as their own educator,” she says. 

She hopes to teach her students how to “surround ourselves with collaborators who push our boundaries and enhance our learning experiences.”

“Megan didn’t just teach the content,” Damico notes. By bringing together discussion prompts, video demonstrations, and relating the material back to students’ lived experiences, “she facilitated active engagement and learning.”

By intentionally creating a welcoming and relaxed environment for her students, Quebedeaux facilitated their ability to become invested in the material and the learning process.

“The most rewarding teaching moment has been points in the semester when students began to voluntarily send videos, pictures, and examples of their own lives in connection with our class discussions and lessons,” Quebedeaux says. 

The Graduate School is proud to recognize Quebedeaux’s achievements as a resourceful and effective instructor. Her dedication to undergraduate student success is a shining example of the extraordinary ways graduate students contribute to the University’s teaching mission.