The award honors excellence in undergraduate education across the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota Morris teaching specialist in Spanish Windy González Roberts, is the recipient of the 2022–2023 Horace T. Morse - University of Minnesota Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Contributions to Undergraduate Education. The award honors faculty who excel in teaching, research, creative activities, advising, academic program development and educational leadership.
Acting Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean Peh Ng announced the award by saying, “[Roberts] is an exemplary, inspiring, and socially-engaged educator, faculty adviser, and mentor with an enviable expertise in teaching methodology and advanced technologies in the field of second language acquisition.”
Roberts’s myriad outreach activities include the Community English as a Second Language (ESL) program, the Jane Addams Project, and the Spanish Conversation Table.
Roberts’s colleagues in the Spanish discipline wrote, “Roberts deserves to be recognized for the extraordinary and invaluable service she provides to the Spanish discipline, to the Office of Community Engagement, to UMN Morris’s students, and to our LatinX community members. We have rarely seen someone demonstrate as much community engagement in the service of equity and diversity and connect it to the ongoing enrichment and education of our students as she does and that we are confident that she will continue to do in the future. We are fortunate to count her as one of our faculty.”
Roberts first taught education courses at UMN Morris in 2005, and joined the Spanish faculty in 2008.
“Knowing that I have helped students enter flourishing careers and achieve their personal goals is the greatest joy of my work,” Roberts wrote. “I feel I am part of a UMM team that sends out graduates with honed critical thinking skills ready to make the world a better place.”
Ng also commented that UMN Morris has for years had the highest percentage of faculty who have been recognized for their outstanding teaching and service to undergraduate education because we have outstanding faculty.
Each year since 1965, the University of Minnesota has recognized a select group of teachers for their outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. Those who receive the Morse-Alumni Undergraduate Teaching Award become members of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers