Elizabethtown College Professor of Sociology Michele Kozimor was recently awarded the 2024 Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award at the 119th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA) in Montreal on Aug. 11.
“I am deeply honored and grateful to be recognized with this award because it highlights the importance of scholarly teaching, educational development, and the scholarship of teaching and learning within sociology,” Kozimor said. “My teaching contributions, and thus this award, are the product of an entire teaching and learning community. I dedicate this award to the many individuals I have learned from and those who have helped me to emerge stronger.”
The award is the ASA’s highest teaching honor and recognizes contributions that extend beyond teaching ability to the instructor’s impact on the way sociology is taught.
“Dr. Kozimor is an innovative educator who has been important in not only encouraging scholars from all levels to be involved in sociology but also solidifying teaching as a form of research and scholarship,” Myron Strong, Chair of the ASA’s Distinguished Contributions to Teaching Award Committee said. “Her influence in bringing in new voices, new opinions, and new perspectives has tremendously affected the trajectory and success of the discipline. What we see now is a sociology that’s more holistic and presents less barriers to those who want to be involved. Dr. Kozimor’s legacy is one that has made our field more inclusive, welcoming, and self-aware, and, for these reasons, we felt she truly embodies the spirit of this award.”
Kozimor is widely known in her field for her work as the editor of Teaching Sociology, a journal focused on advancing the quality of sociology instruction and the scholarship of teaching and learning sociology. She also co-edited Learning from Each Other: Refining the Practice of Teaching in Higher Education (University of California Press, 2018) and Emerging Stronger: Pedagogical Lessons from the Pandemic (Routledge, 2023), both with Jeffrey Chin.
Kozimor also facilitated teaching and learning workshops through a variety of national sociology associations. She was also awarded Etown’s 2018-19 Kreider Prize for Teaching Excellence.
“I am grateful to the students I have had the privilege to teach and mentor over the past 25 years,” Kozimor said. “They have transformed my teaching in immeasurable ways. I continue to learn from them every day.”
