The Marshall Award For Course Development and Curriculum Enhancement

Deadline: March 1, 2025

The UNM College of Arts and Sciences is pleased to offer the Marshall Award for Course Development and Curriculum Enhancement, which honors Diane L. Marshall’s career-long commitment to improving the classroom experience of UNM students.

Marshall awards recognize the course development and revision work necessary for UNM to offer a modern curriculum that foregrounds student success. Any faculty member who has recently developed a new course or significantly revised an existing course may apply. Up to three Marshall Awards will be granted each year, with no more than one award dedicated to a course in the Humanities, the Natural Sciences, or the Social Sciences. Recipients of a Marshall Award will receive a summer stipend of up to $2,000 for their work. 

Eligibility Requirements

  • All full-time faculty members with a primary appointment in the UNM College of Arts and Sciences are eligible to apply
  • The home unit of the course that is to be developed or enhanced must be an academic unit in the UNM College of Arts and Sciences
  • The teaching modality of the course that is to be developed or enhanced must be Face-to-Face
  • Awards can be used for the creation of new courses or the enhancement of an existing course

To Apply

Any interested faculty member can email a completed Marshall Award Application Form to Alice Hollow Horn at lakotahh@unm.edu no later than March 1, 2025. The completed form must include the signatures of the Applicant and the Chair or Director of the Applicant’s home unit.

Award Selection

Awardees will be selected by a committee of no more than four members, including the A&S Associate Dean for Student Success and at least one member of the A&S Curriculum Committee.

The award committee will focus on the level of curricular and/or instructional need that a project addresses, as well as the potential to impact the learning experience of a significant number of students. Priority will be given to applicants who have not previously been granted a Marshall Award.

Awardees will be announced during Spring semester (around the end of March, usually).

caleb.jpg2024 Marshall Award Winners

Caleb Richardson, Associate Professor of History, will be enhancing the curriculum for Western Civilization Since 1648 (HIST 1160). Dr. Richardson will incorporate “Reacting to the Past” pedagogy, which is an active learning approach that involves complex role-immersion games in which students are assigned the roles of actual historical figures living through a turning point or moment of crisis.

nahir.jpgNahir I. Otaño Gracia, Assistant Professor of English, is shifting the focus of World Literature I (ENGL 2650) by prioritizing non-European texts and narratives. Her curricular changes include analyzing world literature through a restorative justice model that concentrates on community building and creating an accessible and anti-racist classroom.

2023-2024 Marshall Award Winners 

  • Eva Rodríguez-González, Professor in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese will develop a new course in General Education- Area I on public speaking in Spanish that is geared toward students who speak Spanish frequently. The course will help these students become more comfortable and more effective public speakers in both Spanish and English and will introduce students to principles of rhetoric to improve their ability to analyze and understand public debates and controversies related to Hispanic communities.
  • Allen Butt, Principal Lecturer III in the Department of Psychology will revise and improve PSYC 1110 by developing more effective in-class methods to promote student engagement and better integration with the online platform, as well as an effective structured outreach plan for struggling students.
  • Kelly Howe, Principal Lecturer III in the Department of Biology. Dr. Howe will develop a new course, BIOL 2101, Molecules to Cells, which provides essential background for future courses in Cell Biology and Genetics and is an essential part of the full Biology curriculum redesign.
  • Noah Painter-Davis, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology, will develop SOCI 418: Beyond Reform, which will support students to think through contemporary issues and debates concerning public health and safety.  The course will integrate current research for example in development of practices that divert youth and young adults from the criminal legal system and developing better coordination between parole and behavioral health providers to improve reentry outcomes for individuals leaving prison.

2021-2022 Marshall Award Winners 

  • Jonathan Davis-Secord, Department of English
  • Sharon Erickson Nepstad, Department of Sociology
  • James Thomas, Department of Physics & Astronomy
Descriptions of projects from the inaugural (2022) Marshall Award winners

Further Reading