Summary
Dr. Sonia Kania Wins Statewide Regents Outstanding Teaching Award
Dr. Sonia Kania, professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages, was selected as a recipient of the 2023 Regents Outstanding Teaching Awards. The honorees represent faculty from the University of Texas System institutions who demonstrate extraordinary classroom teaching performance and dedication to innovation. Since 2008, the UT System Board of Regents has been recognizing its outstanding educators. Each honoree is presented with a certificate, a medallion, and $25,000 in appreciation of their impact on students and their institutions.
Dr. Kania was recognized for the excellence of her pedagogical and curricular accomplishments focused on student success. In 2019, she launched a Student Success plan in the department to improve ABC rates in lower-level language courses via interventions for at-risk students and a free tutoring program. This has impacted thousands of students, keeping many from dropping or failing their classes, and dramatically increased student success rates. In 2020, she convened a “Proficiency Initiative” working group with the goal of preparing students with marketable skills for workforce readiness via increased language proficiency. She played a key role in revamping the curriculum and in implementing proficiency testing for the Global Seal of Biliteracy, an internationally recognized micro credential, which she also helped introduce at UTA in 2022. With the aim of fostering student success after graduation, in 2017 Dr. Kania spearheaded the development of an annual Modern Languages career fair, which is still held every fall.
In addition to these innovations, Dr. Kania also worked to improve the department’s Spanish as a Heritage Language (SHL) program. This is especially important for UTA since it has been designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) since 2014 with over 25% Hispanic enrollment. Given the many benefits of Spanish as a heritage language courses on Latino students’ well-being and academic success, she led the department’s efforts to include “Intermediate Spanish for Heritage Speakers” in the UTA Core Curriculum, as well as “Spanish in the United States,” a course that Dr. Kania personally developed, which focuses on the sociopolitics of speaking a minority language, such as Spanish, in the U.S. Curricular innovations such as these have been instrumental in ensuring that UTA is not only a Hispanic-enrolling institution, but a Hispanic-serving one as well, as testified in the university’s certification with the Seal of Excelencia for 2022-2025.
In addition to the above endeavors, Dr. Kania is a big believer in experiential learning for her students and in giving back through leadership that has a positive impact on her colleagues’ teaching. Fresh off of two professional development opportunities she pursued for herself last academic year, Dr. Kania is ready for her next teaching adventures!
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