The University of North Carolina Board of Governors has selected UNC Greensboro’s Dr. Carmen Sotomayor to receive a 2020 Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Sotomayor is professor of Spanish and associate head in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. She teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and leads a study abroad program for undergraduates each summer in Spain.
Her research interests include the poetry, narratives, and visual arts of the Spanish Civil War, as well as the narratives of contemporary Spanish writers. She is particularly interested in aspects of otherness in relation to race and gender. In addition, Sotomayor studies the films of the Spanish Civil War, the Franco era, and the transition to the democracy period.
“Dr. Sotomayor is a consummate teacher-scholar who is deeply committed to the success of her students,” said UNCG Provost Dana Dunn. “This award is a testament to her hard work in the classroom, in the community, and throughout our campus, all while pursuing high-level research. We are thrilled she is being recognized for her accomplishments by the Board of Governors.”
Sotomayor is one of 17 award recipients who represent all 16 of North Carolina’s public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. The faculty members were nominated by special committees on their home campuses and selected by the Board of Governors Committee on Educational Planning, Policies, and Programs. Award winners will be honored at their respective institutions at a future date.
“I believe in the classroom experience as a transformational one,” said Sotomayor. “I feel very fortunate to be able to teach about topics that I feel passionate about. Language is inseparable from culture and it opens the learner to different modes of conceptualizing the world around them. … As a teacher, I consider my biggest accomplishment to be instilling in my students a sense of wonder and discovery of different cultures that I am familiar with, knowing how this process informs their own cultural perceptions, and expands their horizons.”
To read the full profile of Sotomayor on the UNC System website, click here.
Photography by Martin W. Kane, University Communications
