Ken Sirotnik receives Distinguished Teaching Legacy Award
Ken Sirotnik's legacy remains strong nearly two decades after his death. The UWAA honors him with the 2022 Distinguished Teaching Legacy Award.
Ken Sirotnik
The UWAA is proud to present the late Ken Sirotnik with the Distinguished Teaching Legacy Award. Created in 2017, the Distinguished Teaching Legacy Award honors a UW teacher, living or not, who has influenced and inspired students long after they graduated.
The best educators don’t just teach in the moment. Their words and discoveries sit in the minds of their students, waiting to be unpacked years or even decades later. Such was the impact of College of Education Professor Emeritus Ken Sirotnik.
More than 20 years after his time at the UW, nominator Andrew Grzadzielewski, ’05, finds himself reflecting on conversations with Sirotnik and how the sifting of memories is constantly rewarding: “Those who were committed to creating change always had a friend in Ken, especially when the going got tough. Knowing that Ken was rooting for you made a tough job a little easier. That is what I will miss most about Ken.”
Sirotnik died in 2004 after 40 years in education at UCLA and UW. Chairman of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the College of Education and co-founder of the Center for Educational Renewal, Sirotnik has a legacy that continues at the UW through the Ken Sirotnik Endowed Scholarship supporting equity, leadership and social justice in education.