2014 Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching: Bridget Kelly, Ph.D.
Dr. Kelly is an Associate Professor in the School of Education. She has taught in the Higher Education graduate programs at Loyola University Chicago since 2009 and for three years served as Program Director. Among the classes Dr. Kelly teaches are Student Development, Multiculturalism for Social Justice, and Women in Higher Education. Dr. Kelly’s objectives as an instructor include promoting critical thinking and reflective analysis, social justice education, and facilitating personal interaction with knowledge. She uses intergroup dialogue in her classes to promote her students’ exploration of power and privilege. Dr. Kelly receives consistently outstanding evaluations from her students and one of her former students noted that she “exemplifies cura personalis, a deep concern for her students, their learning, and development as socially just professionals.” Dr. Kelly is also committed to her role as a mentor and has trained many of her students to become active higher education professionals. One of her recent mentees talked about how Dr. Kelly “understands the obstacles women and people of color face in higher education.” Dr. Kelly’s willingness to “go above and beyond her duties as a professor,” according to this same student, accounts for her own success as a professional in student affairs. For her accomplishments in teaching and mentoring, the SOE has selected Dr. Bridget Kelly to be the recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.