2000 Burlington North Foundation Faculty Achievement Award: Williamsen's Profession Connects Her Life with Students

Julieta Gonzalez
May 11, 2000


Amy Williamsen says that receiving this award is as exciting as becoming tenured. "Teaching is something I've always valued. This is what I do because I love to teach. Getting this award means that students and colleagues recognize this. It's been an incredible feeling."

How students are influenced by her classes varies from the serious career-defining moments to the not so serious. Williamsen, associate professor in the department of Spanish and Portuguese, indicates, however, that generally, students don't realize how much she remembers them. One former student wrote to her telling her that thanks to a Hispanic literature class, she learned that Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes y Saavedra and English poet and dramatist William Shakespeare had died the same year. The former student wrote, "Thanks to you and what I learned, I won at Trivial Pursuit. I impressed everyone in my family because I'd never won before."

On the serious side, Williamsen cites an example of how much impact even the smallest amount of time taken to encourage a student can make a difference in that person's life.

"I saw a former student I hadn't seen in a while and I was really glad to see her. She told me how she wanted to enroll in the Teach for Tucson program and I told her she'd be great. She's one of those people who will be able to let students know that they're valued and we really need her in the public schools." The student pursued the option and thanked Williamsen for the conversation that almost didn't happen. "Students need to understand that we're here to help and encourage. I care for them as individuals and I'm never too busy." says Williamsen.

Seeing former graduate students at national conferences as colleagues brings a special joy to Williamsen. "I've seen them flourish and go on and I get that connection of coming full circle with them," says Williamsen. She believes that knowledge begins with dialogue and strives to develop students' critical thinking abilities. She encourages them to consider the broader implications of the material they study. "My goal is to equip them for the future by training them to ask the questions that we cannot as yet imagine."

Williamsen is grateful that her department has offered her the opportunity to teach at all levels. "Teaching is a profession that makes you feel very vulnerable. We open ourselves up and share the joys of life and the joy of what we do even if at times we might be afraid to appear silly or corny." A story she shares with her students relates to the self-doubts she experienced while she was being considered for tenure. "It was a time of great insecurity. I thought to myself 'should I change directions, am I doing the right thing?'" Then her grandmother, a seamstress and upholsterer passed away and left her sewing machine to Williamsen's husband. In the machine, they found a small bag containing a silver bracelet with engravings depicting the pivotal scenes from Cervantes' "Don Quixote." A fob on the bracelet was of Cervantes himself.

"How my Norwegian grandmother got a hold of this bracelet from Spain, I'll never know. But right there, it was one of those moments where I knew that what I'm doing has connection to my life and will continue," says Williamsen.

Williamsen has taught at the University of Arizona since 1989. She earned her doctorate in Hispanic literature from the University of Southern California in 1985.

Share

Resources for the media