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Civil engineering professor Mohsen Shahandashti and social work associate professor Karen Magruder have received the 2025 Regents\u2019 Outstanding Teaching Award.<\/p>\n
Since 2008, the Regents\u2019 Outstanding Teaching Awards have been a way to recognize UT System educators who have demonstrated a commitment to teaching excellence through effectiveness, innovation and creativity according to the UT System website.<\/p>\n
The awards are a symbol of the importance placed on the provision of teaching and are used as an incentive for others to work on enhancing student learning.<\/p>\n
Up to 15 awards are given every year. Nominations begin in February and end in May, and the recipients are announced in September, with their awards presented during the November Board of Regents meeting. Professors who receive the award are given $25,000, a certificate and a medallion.<\/p>\n
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Karen Magruder, associate professor of practice in social work, has been named a recipient of the 2025 UT Regents\u2019 Outstanding Teaching Awards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Karen Magruder<\/p>\n
Karen Magruder<\/strong><\/p>\n For Magruder, teaching social work is about more than just classwork or grades. The associate professor of practice said she focuses on making online learning more humanized, even when she and her students aren\u2019t in the same room. She said she tries to make the courses interactive, organized and easy for students to connect with.<\/p>\n \u201cI really try to be student-centered,\u201d Magruder said. \u201cHumanizing online education has really been something that I\u2019ve leaned into.\u201d<\/p>\n Her teaching style combines knowledge and empathy, she said. To Magruder, a good professor isn\u2019t just someone who knows their subject but someone who\u2019s approachable and makes students feel cared for.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of times, it\u2019s more about the passion, or the authenticity, or the enthusiasm, the availability,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Magruder\u2019s story at UTA started years before she began teaching. She earned her master\u2019s degree in social work from the university, then came back as an adjunct instructor before joining the faculty full time.<\/p>\n While teaching, she finished her Doctor of Social Work degree earlier this year at the University of Kentucky, and leads the School of Social Work\u2019s new doctoral program.<\/p>\n Magruder didn\u2019t always plan on becoming a professor, but she said it was on her radar after she took a career aptitude test in high school.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was kind of tied for top three, and it said the three roles I was best suited for would be being a counselor, a manager or a teacher,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd now I\u2019m all three.\u201d<\/p>\n Magruder said she wants students to see how what they learn connects to real people and communities.<\/p>\n \u201cI just know that they\u2019re going to make a huge impact in their work,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really rewarding and fulfilling to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Magruder said winning the Regents\u2019 Outstanding Teaching Award was both exciting and humbling. She said she feels thankful for the people who helped get her to this point.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m just incredibly grateful to receive that recognition and acknowledgment of all of the efforts and hard work and everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mohsen Shahandashti, civil engineering professor and associate dean of administration in the College of Engineering, has been named a recipient of the 2025 UT Regents\u2019 Outstanding Teaching Awards. Shahandashti has developed and taught 10 graduate and undergraduate courses at UTA.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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