Knox College Spanish Professor Robin Ragan Named Teacher of the Year

Robin Ragan, Szold Distinguished Service Professor of Modern Languages (Spanish), has become an expert Spanish language translator and notable educator through groundbreaking programs at Knox College and service projects in Galesburg and across the United States. This year, Ragan’s work and dedication earned her national recognition when she was named the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP) Four-Year College/University-Level Teacher of the Year at AATSP’s annual conference in Orlando, Florida.

“It’s very humbling, but very gratifying that people on the outside who don’t know me and only look at my program or look at what I have to say objectively find that it has value and find that it’s doing something different or is held up as a model of some sort,” Ragan said. “It makes me feel like I’m on the right track and that I should keep going in this direction. It’s like a pep talk to myself or an energy booster.”

Ragan was inspired to apply for the AATSP award last year by a fellow educator. After not winning a year ago, she tried again and was honored by the organization. She also received letters of recommendation from multiple peers and a former student. 

“Honestly, any of my [Knox] colleagues could have won this award; a lot of people are doing fantastic work,” she said. “There’s a little bit of that luck factor and having the gumption to go for something like this.”

This was the third year Ragan attended the AATSP Conference. She has used the event to support her teaching and highlight what a Knox education can do.

“There’s a sort of ulterior motive on my end, which is to draw more attention to Knox and encourage students to come here to study Spanish,” she said. “That’s what I’m hoping for because AATSP has a lot of high school teachers who are members, so I am hoping that I’ll have the chance to put Knox on their radar so if they have really promising students they can tell them, ‘hey, check out this program, maybe you haven’t heard of this, but you can study translation and interpreting and you can do some really interesting things with it while you’re still an undergraduate.’”

The event allowed Ragan to expand her teaching and help with lessons inside and outside the classroom.

“I really like this group; it’s a mixture of faculty at the university and college levels and high school teachers,” she said. “We’re teaching similar topics at different age groups, and there are many excellent practical ideas for teaching various concepts. I’ve been twice, so I am looking forward to going again.”