The Accessible Education Center is thrilled to recognize Katie Jacobson as the recipient of the Eighth Annual Faculty Excellence in Universal Design Award! This award honors Katie’s outstanding commitment to fostering inclusive, accessible, and empowering learning environments for all students.
Katie teaches in the College of Education, specializing in preparing future educators to teach mathematics. Katie takes a thoughtful and innovative approach to Universal Design for Learning (UDL), promoting accessibility, collaboration, and student engagement. This approach has made a lasting impact on learners’ confidence, sense of belonging, and academic success.
When asked about incorporating UDL principles into the classroom, Katie stated, “I value UDL principles in the classroom because we all learn more from each other when we use an asset-based approach to students’ individual learning needs. The classroom community becomes more relaxed, and students feel safe being vulnerable, sharing their understanding of math with each other. We all value our learning community.”
This year, the award received a record number of heartfelt nominations from students and colleagues, all recognizing Katie’s exceptional teaching. The following quotes from student nominations speak to the transformative learning experience in Katie’s classroom:
“Katie has fostered such a supportive learning community. Our whole class works together and values each other because of the environment created. This environment encourages everyone to participate and discuss what we’re learning. I’ve never been in a class with this level of engagement before.”
“As a junior at UO, I’ve had many professors but the moment I heard about this award, I immediately thought of Katie. Truly the most inclusive, engaging, and communicative professor I’ve learned from. I felt confident in a subject I never thought I could be confident in—math—and stayed motivated and excited throughout the term.”
“Something that once made me feel like I couldn’t be a teacher has become my superpower. Katie helped me see that understanding math differently is a strength I can use to help others.”
Katie’s favorite part about teaching at UO is the students themselves. Katie described, “I have the best students and love learning alongside them.”
Join us in celebrating Katie Jacobson for this well-deserved recognition! Thank you for championing inclusive education and making a lasting difference in the University of Oregon community.