This past spring, Lizbeth Zúñiga received the Graduate School’s highly competitive President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching by a Graduate Student.
The WGSS Department has known for years that Lizbeth is a fabulous teacher with an unwavering commitment to feminist pedagogy and mentoring. So, we’re absolutely thrilled to see Stony Brook recognizing Lizbeth’s excellence!
For the past two years, Lizbeth has helped us grow the WGSS major and minor by teaching a number of our gateway classes – including the WGSS survey course, the intro to queer studies course, and the introductory feminist theory course. Whether teaching online or in-person, Lizbeth excels in creating a welcoming environment.
Last fall, the students who took WST 103 with Lizbeth raved about her class in their end-of-semester evaluations. “Everything was valuable in this course,” one student reported, before adding: “everyone should take this course.” Several students commended Lizbeth for incorporating different types of texts into the syllabus and then making sure they understood how those material related to their everyday lives. One student enthusiastically declared, “I love my professor and the topics she teaches!”
Lizbeth also designed her own special topics course called “Chicanas and Latinas in Education.” The assignments for this class showcased the way Lizbeth invites students to apply what they’ve learned in creative, non-traditional ways. For example, she had students complete a “Testimonio Project,” where they were asked to “tell the story of their higher education journey” via a PowerPoint presentation. Students needed to incorporate the assigned readings as they broke down and critically reflected on their educational experiences, from their first “home-teachers” to their experiences as an undergraduate at Stony Brook. Not surprisingly, this course was a total success!
The WGSS Department cannot thank Lizbeth enough for all she does for our students, our undergrad program, and our interdisciplinary field! Congratulations on this well-deserved award!