College of Communication & Education

Maris Thompson Receives Professional Achievement Honor

Maris Thompson, associate professor in the School of Education, is one of seven honorees to be recognized with the University’s Professional Achievement Honor. The honor is in recognition of exemplary teacher-scholar achievement on campus. The honorees are selected by peers who serve on the University’s Faculty Recognition and Support Committee.

When asked how it felt to be recognized by her peers, Thompson said, “I’m very honored by this professional achievement award. It always feels good to be recognized for the work that so many of us do on this campus."

Thompson won a Maggie Award from the Associated Students Gender and Sexuality Equity Center in spring 2015 and an Excellence in Teaching Award from the National Society for Leadership and Success in spring 2018, and has continuously pursued excellence in teaching and scholarship.

Her three research areas are immigration and schooling, literacy and teacher education, and diversity and equity in education. She is also interested in the German American experience and understanding the connections between previous histories of anti-immigrant sentiment with today’s immigration climate. She has actively published in all of these areas, completing a book and three journal articles since she was tenured in 2014. She has worked diligently to research co-teaching pedagogy and conduct a number of workshops in our region around co-teaching for K–12 partner schools.

As for the future, “Currently, I’m working on publishing findings from a study of residency based co-teaching pairs in our rural partner schools,” Thompson said. “I’m also focused on building more partnerships with local districts to provide residency based student teaching experiences for more teacher candidates in the School of Education."

The honorees will receive recognition at Inspired ’19, Bridges to Knowledge, a Celebration of Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity from 5–7 p.m. March 27 on the fourth floor of Meriam Library.