The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at ASU recognizes outstanding faculty with 2026 teaching awards

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University is home to over 1,300 faculty members and enrolls over 31,000 students every semester.

Every year, The College recognizes faculty who have gone above and beyond to help their students succeed across its humanities, natural sciences and social sciences divisions through its teaching awards.

Learn more about this year’s six awardees and the impact they’ve made inside and outside of their classrooms. 

Josh Coleman, an assistant professor in the Department of English, teaches courses that support current and future secondary educators in the cultivation of English language expertise, including approaches to reading and knowledge of youth literature. His research surrounds teachers’ experiences in the classroom and how to navigate book bans in public schools and libraries. 

Coleman’s work with teachers has manifested in several projects, including his upcoming monograph, “Ban Censorship, Not Books: How Teachers, Schools, and Communities Can Fight for Intellectual Freedom,” set to publish in October. Through several grants, Coleman and Professor Jessica Early are designing professional development opportunities for humanities teachers to aid them in navigating restrictive education policy through writing. 

His primary course, ENG 486: Teaching Text, is filled with soon-to-be teachers who enjoy combining coupling theory with practical methods of teaching. 

“Together, we launch into inquiry, exploring print texts, digital media and even AI-generated character bots to develop rationales for selecting texts to teach based on their teaching context. I structure the Teaching Text course around digital interactive agendas that, as living documents, offer resources to pre-service teachers, and these live on beyond the confines of the semester,” said Coleman. 

Coleman describes his teaching as being rooted in modeling pedagogy and vulnerability, both in triumphs and failings. By sharing his failures, he hopes his students are able to avoid the same pitfalls that might have diminished learning excellence in his classrooms — emphasizing that teachers are always learning and that doing so together can ultimately lead to a higher standard of education excellence for all students. 

“This award is the culmination of 15 years of practice as a teacher. I began my career as a 10th grade English teacher in Title I public schools, and those experiences shaped more than my pedagogy. They forged an identity. 

“Being awarded the Zebulon Pearce Award is a validation of that identity, and it impels me to continue honing my pedagogy around my twin foci: inclusive excellence and the pursuit of human dignity,” said Coleman. 

Jessie Ebie, an associate teaching professor in the School of Life Sciences, teaches a range of topics for both undergraduate and graduate students, including general genetics and the biology of social insects. 

She currently co-advises three graduate students on projects including long-distance communication and reproductive regulation in Australian weaver ants, navigation in Temnothorax rugatulus, or rock ants, and the effects of microclimate on milkweed growth and pollinator recruitment, along with monarch and queen butterfly recruitment. 

On the undergraduate side, one of her main courses enrolls 250 students, and she aims to make the course more personal and less overwhelming. 

“What I enjoy most is working directly with students to provide support and make sure the material, which can be challenging, is accessible to everyone, not just those coming in with a strong academic background. Many of my students work full time and have families, so it's important to me that the course is clear and well-structured so they can use their limited time efficiently,” said Ebie. “I also continuously adjust the curriculum based on student feedback and performance to make sure all students have a real chance to succeed.”

Outside of the classroom and labs, she serves as president of the Career Faculty Association at ASU, where she will support career-track faculty across the university. She leads a faculty mentoring group within the School of Life Sciences and spearheads The College Transfer Forward program, which focuses on supporting transfer students' access and success. 

Ebie also co-directs the Master of Science in biology program and will be transitioning into the role of assistant director of master's degree programs this fall.

“This award means a great deal to me, because teaching is where I put so much of my energy and heart. What drives me isn't just covering content; it's creating an environment where students, particularly those who haven't always seen themselves as scientists, feel like they genuinely belong in biology or any STEM-related career,” said Ebie. “Being recognized for that work is deeply meaningful.”

Kelsey Lucca, an associate professor in the Department of Psychology, is a developmental psychologist researching how the mind works. She primarily teaches courses on cognition, curiosity and developmental psychology, tracing journeys from infancy to adulthood.

In addition to her work in the classroom, Lucca is the director of the Emerging Minds Lab, a developmental psychology research lab that explores the origins and development of human thinking across cultures. 

“We conduct experimental and observational research with babies, young children and their parents on a variety of topics, including curiosity, persistence, social cognition and decision-making,” said Lucca. 

The list of hands-on experiences she has provided to her students is lengthy, including the Living Lab program at the Children’s Museum of Phoenix, the Arizona Science Center and the Edna Vihel Arts Center in Tempe. Students can conduct experiments with children while also sharing with families what can be learned from developmental science and how it can positively impact children’s development. She also runs the Emerging Scholars Summer Internship Program that provides students with two years of funding so they not only experience hands-on research, but also the mentorship of newer researchers.

When working with her students, Lucca knows students and their interests will change. In response, she tries to tailor her teaching to meet students and also scaffold her methods to adapt and change as they do.

“I ask myself, how can I spark curiosity in my students so they genuinely care about what we are learning, and critically, how can I provide them with the tools they need for sustaining that interest over time, and through inevitable challenges,” said Lucca.

“The award brings me a lot of joy because the best parts of my job are getting to share discoveries from this research with students in the classroom, and working with students in the lab to make new discoveries about the mind and how it develops.”

Sara Marsteller, an associate teaching professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, shares her expertise as an anthropological bioarchaeologist on topics including global history of health, medical anthropology and debunking pseudoarchaeological claims and hoaxes. 

“What I love most about these topics is that they invite students to think critically about the various ways in which humans construct knowledge and understand the world. My favorite part of teaching is hearing from my students about how they plan to use the skills and knowledge they gained from the course,” said Marsteller.

Some of her current projects include the redevelopment of the school’s universal learner course, Human Origins, into a four-credit scientific thinking laboratory course. Marsteller has been involved in rethinking both course content and design to make scientific inquiry more accessible and engaging. She is also helping expand support structures for online teaching in the school through their grader pool and FRAME accessibility initiatives, where she trains and supervises students who help improve course accessibility and student support.

In approaching her teaching style with students, Marsteller focuses on balancing experiential learning with compassionate course design. She builds flexibility and structure into her courses to make learning as accessible to her students as she can, wanting them to engage with the research process and real-world issues.

“Receiving this award is incredibly motivating because it reminds me that my efforts are making an impact in work that I truly love. It is an absolute honor to work alongside such inspiring students and supportive colleagues,” said Marsteller.

Connor Sheehan, an associate professor in the T. Denny Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics, works with students in both introductory and advanced statistics courses in sociology and geography. His research primarily focuses on the social determinants of health, with particular attention to sleep disparities, health inequality and mortality.

Sheehan also co-founded Data Devils with Aaron Flores, which pairs students with Arizona-based nonprofits and public agencies that collect data but lack the capacity to analyze it. 

“Students have built geospatial dashboards for St. Mary's Food Bank, produced statewide food insecurity analyses, supported women’s organizations and Maricopa County Animal Care and Control. This spring we trained staff from all four of Arizona's major food bank networks on a dashboard we built, all of which was led by students,” said Sheehan.

One of his primary courses involves junior-level and PhD students in multivariate statistics with little to no coding background. By the end of the semester, Sheehan has worked with them to help run neural net packages alongside their graduate peers and produce peer-review-level work. 

He designs his lectures or writing assignments in a way to help create an environment where students feel comfortable learning hard material. 

“Teaching at ASU is the best part of my job because the charter lets me do what I think matters most: teach inclusively, mentor ambitiously and put what students learn to work for communities that need it,” said Sheehan. 

Jeffrey Watson, an associate teaching professor in the School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, teaches a wide range of philosophy courses from introductions to the field to symbolic logic. However, his favorite class is PHI 329: History of Modern Philosophy, where he creates an interactive environment, acting as a philosopher discussed in their readings, to engage more with students. 

“I play the role of (Scottish philosopher) David Hume and try to challenge ordinary beliefs about cause and effect, for instance. I really enjoy the interaction, but I also enjoy teaching logic courses and working through problems with the class in the moment,” said Watson. 

Watson’s primary research leans in the metaphysics of mind and questions about the nature of consciousness. He also works on causation and counterfactuals as well as vagueness and perception. Through his teaching, Watson says his role is to help provide what most humans need in order to learn, which is the relationship with other humans who care about learning. 

“We not only provide a guide through the information and a mentoring role in the often challenging learning process, but we create a community of learners around a shared value who incentivize one another to learn more, and who learn from one another,” said Watson.

Recently he’s worked with two undergraduate students on their project researching recent papers related to artificial intelligence and theories of consciousness. 

“I've especially enjoyed over the years working with Barrett students on theses and other projects; each of those has been rewarding and an opportunity for me to learn more.”