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Janice Laakso Beth Luce, UW Tacoma For five consecutive years, UW Tacoma students have earned distinction by winning a national social work contest testing their skills at influencing state policy. Guided by Janice Laakso, associate professor of social work, the students are armed with the fiery passion for social justice that she instills in them. She teaches her students to stand up for what matters.
Laakso was selected to receive the UW Tacoma Distinguished Teaching Award. She was chosen by a committee of faculty members from a field of accomplished colleagues. Laakso will receive a $5,000 honorarium and will deliver a lecture, open to everyone, in the fall.
In support of Laakso's nomination for the award, one of her students, senior Rob Jones, wrote, "Dr. Laakso is one of the most effective teachers I've ever learned from because of the passion she has for her profession." Her passion shows, not only as a teacher and mentor, he added, but "as a world-class social worker."
Laakso brings 25 years of social work experience to the classroom, which she draws on for lesson examples. "When we're discussing aspects of social work such as ethics or criminal justice, I can demonstrate my point with a story of something I've experienced," she said. "It's better if you have real-life experience."
Although she has many years of teaching experience, Laakso strives to learn new techniques and develop innovative assignments to improve her teaching. . "Teaching is important to me and I take it seriously," she said. "I really care that students learn."
Laakso engages with her students in active learning, which she defines as "facilitating students' opportunities to apply what they learn in the classroom to the greater community and society."
Jones applauds Laakso for her methods. "One part of this is Dr. Laakso's enthusiastic call to all of her students to get excited about social work and to practice social justice for all," Jones said. "She does not stop at merely teaching the material, but continues to impact as many lives as she can."
Another student, Tim Person, told Laakso, "I have never voted in my life, but after this experience, I will not miss out on this privilege. I am a firm believer in change through advocacy."
Laakso encourages the different worldviews that her students bring to class. "I strive to create an environment where students feel safe to share ideas, even when they may be unpopular or incongruent with my own," she said. "But my purpose is to broaden their viewpoint." She encourages them to "leave their comfort zone sufficiently to experience a learning edge," and to think critically about social justice and ethics, and then decide where they stand on the issues.
Her students complain that she works them too hard, she notes, but after they graduate and look back, they realize how much they learned in her class, and they put that knowledge to good use.
Recently she met Ramon Gomez, a former student from the University of Texas (a native Texan, Laakso speaks with a charming drawl), at a national conference. She did not remember him, but he remembered her. He related a story that she told in one of her classes a decade or more ago that had a huge impact on him. That was the moment he decided to become a social worker. Today he's the director of student and community affairs at the University of Texas School of Social Work.
Sharon Gilbert, a former UW Tacoma student, e-mailed Laakso to tell her how much she had learned about advocacy in her class — although, at the time, she didn't think she needed it. Gilbert now incorporates legislative advocacy into her work for the Department of Social and Health Systems.
"I try to make what I teach as pertinent as possible to the jobs they'll have when they graduate," Laakso said. "They learn a lot, and that's what students want."
She's passionate about all of the courses she teaches, Laakso said, but history is her favorite. She loves it when students begin her history of social work class feeling skeptical that there is anything important to know, but by the end of the quarter, they're hooked.
"She has changed how I perceive many social justice issues, and I know I will be a much better social worker for it one day," Jones said.
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