I have the honor of introducing this year’s recipient of the Edgar M. Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching, which is the highest honor bestowed upon a faculty member at Gustavus. This award recognizes excellence and innovation in teaching and advising, and the winner is selected from among nominations submitted by those who know our faculty best: their students and colleagues.
This year’s recipient is described as an empathetic and compassionate leader who is “consistently…at [their] best every single day from the moment [they walk] in the door until the moment [they leave].” They “balance rigor with warmth,” creating a learning environment where students feel “both challenged and supported.” As one student put it, “I never doubt their support for anything in my life, whether it is school, life, or teaching.”
To step into this person’s classroom, or faculty development workshop, is to see a masterclass in intentionality that embodies the phrase “practice what you preach”. They do not merely describe pedagogy; they model it while simultaneously mastering the “hidden curriculum”—the art of building relationships, fostering empathy, and creating a community where every individual feels seen. They are a “trusted mentor” to peers, and, as one colleague noted, “not only influences students, but she also influences her students’ students, their families, and their communities.” And her students agree, saying “I hope one day to be just like her and impact students all over, of all different ages.”
Perhaps this professor’s most “transformative” magic, however, happens in a specific developmental niche that intersects with her scholarly work. She is known for taking students who enter her classroom swearing there is “no way [they] want to teach middle schoolers” and turning them into such passionate advocates for those young learners that some insist it is the group they must teach. She does this by asking every student to revisit their own past with humor and grace, starting with a middle school photo and a “walk-up song”.
By now, many of you likely recognize this “Gustie Mom and Athletics SuperFan.”
Dr. Amy Vizenor joined the Gustavus faculty in 2014 and currently serves as Associate Professor and Chair of the Education Department. She earned a Bachelor of Science in English Education with a minor in Spanish from Moorhead State University, a Master of Science in Middle Level Curriculum and Instruction from St. Cloud State University, and a Doctorate of Education in Leadership in Higher Education from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. An expert in middle school philosophy, relationship-driven teaching, teacher change agency, and educational equity, Amy has taught nearly every course in her department’s curriculum and, most recently, guided the department “through changes in the reporting demands for [their] accreditation agency”.
For her unwavering dedication to the craft of teaching, her commitment to educational equity, her rigorous standards, and her profound impact on current and future educators, please join me in congratulating Dr. Amy Vizenor, winner of the 2026 Carlson Award for Distinguished Teaching!
Presented by Lauren Hecht
Professor of Psychological Science
2021-22 Recipient of the Edgar M. Carlson Award