Associate Professor Jocelyn Glazier, M.A.T., Ph.D., has been named as one of 25 UNC-Chapel Hill faculty members and teaching assistants to receive 2022 University Teaching Awards.
Glazier was one of four faculty members from across the University to be named a winner of a Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Baccalaureate Instruction.
Glazier has been a member of the UNC School of Education faculty since 2006. She teaches in the Culture, Curriculum, and Teacher Education strand of the Ph.D. program, the School’s master’s degree programs, and in the Minor in Education program.
Glazier’s teaching and research has included a focus on the potential of incorporating experiential education in teacher education programs. She frequently engages educators and pre-service educators in learning through experiences, including outdoor activities with North Carolina Outward Bound and the Durham Public Schools’ Hub Farm. The activities are designed to help educators discover the value of incorporating experiential education in their own teaching.
Faculty member Cheryl Mason Bolick, one of Glazier’s nominators, said she is continually learning from working with Glazier.
“She prompts me to reconsider my own teaching practice and encourages me to take risks with my own teaching practice,” Bolick said. “She crafts perennial questions that prompt students to rethink schools and teaching and consider how culture is pervasive throughout the schooling experience.”
Glazier challenges students, including experienced teachers in the School’s master’s programs, to reflect on their practice and to consider what schools could be, Bolick said.
“She does this in ways that often challenge students intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, and sometimes, physically if they are in a course in which students engage in a North Carolina Outward Bound Experience or Durham Public School Hub Farm experience,” Bolick said.
Working with local schools, educators
Glazier also has facilitated establishment of — and conducted research on — school-based communities of professional practice.
Glazier is one of the leaders of the School of Education’s DREAM program, which won a $4.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to recruit students from diverse populations to go into teaching. The program builds on a 25-year history of collaboration between the School of Education and Durham Public Schools, including a program led by Glazier called Partnership for Authentic Communities of Educators, or PACE.
PACE has worked since 2018 to provide supports for pre-service teachers and early-career teachers in Durham by building networks that connect them with each other and with experienced teacher-mentors with the objective of easing the transition into teaching careers.
For her work with teachers there, Durham Public Schools has recognized Glazier with its “Spark” award.
Glazier earned her bachelor’s degree in English and American Studies and a Master of Arts in Teaching, both in 1991 from Tufts University. After teaching high school English for four years in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, Glazier earned her doctorate in curriculum, instruction, and educational policy in 2000 from Michigan State University.
She taught at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., before joining UNC.
Glazier’s scholarship has been highlighted in such journals as Harvard Educational Review, Teachers College Record, The Journal of Experiential Education, The New Educator and Teaching Education.
She also has served as the faculty advisor for the student-managed journal The High School Journal, one of the oldest peer-reviewed academic journals in education.
Demonstrating resilience
In announcing the awards, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Robert A. Blouin said: “Even as the pandemic continued, faculty remained resilient and dedicated to teaching, continuously supporting students through challenging times and maintaining research interests. And in the fall of 2021, they transitioned from remote teaching to return to the classroom for in-person instruction. I am proud of their accomplishments and grateful for their perseverance. They are richly deserving of this recognition.”
Administered by the Center for Faculty Excellence, the awards were chosen by the University Teaching Awards Committee from more than 800 nominations. The awards are given annually to celebrate the University’s commitment to outstanding teaching and mentoring for graduate and undergraduate students.
Glazier and other winners of the 2022 University Teaching Awards were recognized at halftime of the Jan. 15 men’s basketball game against Georgia Tech.