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teachers
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teachers
And now the story of the educators who won everything.
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As students at the University of Washington, we come from different backgrounds. We have differing interests, living situations, abilities and dreams. But we all have one thing in common: We have classes taught by some of the best teachers you will find in all of higher education.
It’s June, which means it’s time for the UW to recognize its faculty stars. This year marks the 55th anniversary of the Distinguished Teaching Award, the UW’s highest teaching honor. The first was given in 1970 to Giovanni Costigan, a history professor beloved by students as well as alumni and friends who attended his talks on English and Irish history through the History Lecture Series. (UW Tacoma and UW Bothell gave their first Distinguished Teaching Awards in 1995.)
And now, drumroll please, here are this year’s stars.
Jasmine Mahmoud
Assistant Professor, School of Drama
Years Teaching: 7
You Ought to Know: Mahmoud overhauled the theater-history curriculum to center underrepresented artists and scholarship on race, gender, sexuality and ability. She provides classroom policies that include demanding respect for diversity and accessibility. She also teaches students to understand that inclusivity extends well beyond the classroom.
Quote Unquote: “What is your body doing? What meaning is your body making? What meanings might other people be putting on your body? Again, I repeat these questions while leading students through a series of actions. We lean forward while sitting at our desks. We hold hands and then link our elbows. We lie on the ground. We kneel. We stand with arms up and then make a fist with one hand. … This exercise asks us to think—critically, through our bodies. … I am deeply committed to teaching that builds inclusive, accessible, anti-racist communities.”
Kerri DeGroot
Assistant Teaching Professor, Rehabilitation Medicine, Division of Occupational Therapy
Years Teaching: 16
You Ought to Know: She is the co-builder of a brand-new occupational-therapy doctorate curriculum. Her primary goal is making sure her students feel that they are supported in doing, being, becoming and belonging.
Quote Unquote: “I see my role in the classroom as a co-creator of learning instead of expert instructor. I love when my students ask me questions about content or skills that I cannot answer immediately, but we always circle back with evidence and learn the answers together. … I design class experiences to challenge previously held beliefs and stretch my students on their “being” path of developing identity.”
Laura McGarrity
Associate Teaching Professor, Linguistics
Years Teaching: 20
You Ought to Know: McGarrity is the instructor for the department’s largest undergraduate courses, mostly lower-division courses which are taken primarily by non-majors with backgrounds in a variety of disciplines. She introduced LING 269 “Swearing and Taboo Language” to appeal primarily to non-majors as a way of introducing them to the field of linguistics.
Quote Unquote: “I am often students’ first introduction not just to the major but to the field as a whole. … I strive to make the course relatable and relevant to as many students as I can. I incorporate diversity and inclusiveness into my curriculum. … To effectively reach such a diverse set of students, I have embraced technology in my teaching.”
Brian D. White
Teaching Professor, Biological Sciences, UW Bothell
Years Teaching: 14
You Ought to Know: White is interested in the learning that occurs in students and peer facilitators due to small, peer-led breakout sessions that utilize active learning strategies. For the past two years, he has taught BIO 220 utilizing four learning environments: Face-to-face lectures, breakout sessions led by peer facilitators, online and lab. “After taking my class, student attitudes shift toward expert-like views of biology and the problem-solving effort required to do science. According to the literature, shifts toward expert-like ways of thinking are extremely rare, even in upper-level science courses. I am studying what aspects of my class contribute to these attitudinal changes in students.”
Quote Unquote: “A paramount goal of mine is to make science personally relevant to students and help them uncover everyday science in their personal lives. … Whether it be Coke becoming ‘flat’ and using carbonic anhydrase found in your saliva for a dose of dependent experiment in front of the class, or exploring the mechanisms of heavy metals left from the old Tacoma smelting plant, I strive to energize and extend the book content and articulate connections between in-class science and science in our everyday lives.”
Martine De Cock
Professor, School of Engineering and Technology, UW Tacoma
Years Teaching: 20
You Ought to Know: In 2020, De Cock created the first Ph.D. program on the UW Tacoma campus, Computer Science and Systems in the School of Engineering and Technology. She also heads two research labs, the Privacy-Preserving Machine Learning group and the Responsible Health AI Lab.
Quote Unquote: “Students arrive on our campus full of dreams, expectations, and, most of all, great potential to change their lives and that of their families. Understanding that it is my honor and responsibility to help them realize that potential is what drives me to set a very high bar for my students. I pride myself on offering courses that are challenging yet feasible and fully worth the effort. Little makes me happier than seeing my students succeed and achieve far more than they ever imagined, from mastering a difficult topic, doing well on an exam or winning an award, to landing a dream job or getting admitted into a strong graduate program.”
Hannah Wiley
Professor Emeritus of Dance
A five-time nominee for this honor, Hannah Wiley is routinely and frequently described as “the heartbeat of the Dance Department.” Someone whose “mentorship is rooted in rigorous empathy and diligent advocacy anchored in creating communities of care.” And that’s just scratching the surface.
Wiley created the UW’s MFA in Dance in 1990, and her impact continues to be felt nationwide. Says former student Adele Nickel, now an assistant professor of dance at Sam Houston State University: “Hannah taught me that teaching is more like gardening than engineering: Teachers don’t make dancers, they nurture them.”
More praise comes from Brian Evans of the Bates College Department of Dance and another former student of Wiley’s: “Hannah’s mentorship creates ripples—students she has guided go on to support others with the same care and respect she models. Hannah is the kind of mentor whose influence stays with you, shaping who you become as a professional. Her commitment to her students and the profession of effectively sustainable and holistic higher education is profound, and her impact is lifelong.”
Adds Nickel: “The year before I came to UW, I was a finalist for a job at Bard College that I didn’t get. I asked for feedback from the program director, and she had one piece of advice: ‘Go study with Hannah Wiley. She’s the best dance educator in the country.’ I couldn’t agree more.”
Jason Daniel Ulloa
Associate Teaching Professor, Health Systems and Population Health, School of Public Health
He’s been called an “exemplar in humanity and teaching … an activist-scholar and important role model to students.” He’s known for his exceptional mentorship, his advocacy for nontraditional students and his innovative teaching methods. We’re talking about Jason Daniel-Ulloa, an associate teaching professor who really takes the word “teaching” seriously. He was invited by the department chair to provide doctoral students with a seminar series on how to teach.
In His Own Words: “Much of my teaching approach focuses on creating and maintaining spaces that encourage students to feel engaged and present to help them feel invested in the system. … I am committed to working with students to help them find a passion for public health, social justice and eliminating health disparities.”
Quote Unquote: “His dedication to lifelong learning has had a profound impact on my academic and professional journey. Dr. Ulloa is a true advocate for his students, particularly those from nontraditional backgrounds, and his commitment to their success extends far beyond the classroom.”—A former student