By Meg Mills
LEXINGTON, Ky. (May 11, 2023) — Katie Kohls, a graduate instructor in the University of Kentucky College of Arts and Sciences, is one of 10 winners to receive the University of Kentucky’s 2022-23 Outstanding Teaching Award.
Katie Kohls is one of 10 winners to receive the University of Kentucky’s 2022-23 Outstanding Teaching Award. Arden Barnes | UK Photo.
These awards identify and recognize individuals who demonstrate special dedication to student achievement and who are successful in their teaching. Recipients were selected via nomination and reviewed by a selection committee based in the UK Provost’s Office for Faculty Advancement and the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching.
“I am honored to receive this teaching award," said Kohls, who is a Ph.D. candidate in the UK Department of English and teaches in the Department of Writing, Rhetoric and Digital Studies (WRD). "Creating quality and fun learning experiences for my students is a passion of mine, and being recognized for those efforts is very rewarding and validating. I am so thankful to my campus partners like the Louis B. Nunn Center for Oral Histories, CELT and the Esports Lounge, and to my departments — WRD studies and English — because my success at teaching would not be possible without their support. Teaching is often an act of community-building within the classroom, but I am so thankful I have been able to extend that community beyond our roster."
Kohls’ research includes the scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) where she, with IRB approval, studies her students' assessments of their own learning experience and how they view themselves as researchers and writers. Her research also includes the exploration on the remediation of 19th-century British imperial white womanhood in modern popular culture and social media.
She received her master’s degree in English from the University of Louisville and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Findlay.
This year’s Outstanding Teaching Awards were given to four faculty, three lecturers and three graduate teaching assistants. Each winner received an award certificate, a commemorative engraved gift and a cash award in recognition of their teaching excellence.
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