Diana Sierra Becerra Wins College Outstanding Teaching Award

Presented annually, the College Outstanding Teaching Award recognizes faculty members who have made significant contributions to undergraduate education. Recipients are honored for their exceptional teaching, mentoring, and curriculum development, and for the meaningful impact they have on students’ academic and personal growth. 

Professor Diana Sierra Becerra is a historian of women and gender in Latin America. Her teaching focuses on social and political movements throughout the region, encouraging students to understand these histories as mechanisms to address modern-day injustice. She also appreciates that one of the most important resources for any class are the other students within it. One former student said of her experience, “This [class] fostered some of the most meaningful conversations and connections with my classmates.” Sierra Becerra’s classroom is one without walls or boundaries — a place of intellectual exploration and enduring fellowship.

Other recipients of the award are Professor Shannon LaFayette Hogue, Department of Classics, and Professor Jimmy Worthy, Department of English. 

The College of Humanities and Fine Arts chose the award recipients based on their representation of "the very best of our shared mission to teach and to learn. Their dedication to our students, their willingness to innovate within and beyond the classroom, and the skill with which they approach and share their subjects — all are brilliant examples of the College of Humanities and Fine Arts’ commitment to excellence."