Dr. Bridget Sundin, instructional assistant professor in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS), has been named a recipient of the 2024 Impact Award. Illinois State’s Impact Award recognizes student-faculty-staff connections that reflect the positive impact individualized attention can make on Illinois State students.
Since her arrival at Illinois State in the spring of 2020, Dr. Sundin has consistently demonstrated her passion for WGSS scholarship and dedication to helping students achieve their academic and personal endeavors. One student notes that Sundin “holds her expectations for safety, composure, and respect in her classroom very dearly…her students always feel safe in the classroom despite outside challenges that arise. She is willing to make accommodations solely for the benefit of the students’ academics and well-being. I am thankful for the time I have spent in her classroom and the joy Dr. Sundin brings to her lessons every day.”
To Dr. Sundin, this award affirms that she is accomplishing her own aspirations. As an educator of 20 years, Sundin notes that her “primary goal has always been to create a classroom environment where the most marginalized person feels safe enough to thrive. The fact that a student not only saw [her] efforts to create a safe space but also recognized the joy [she has] for teaching is particularly meaningful to [her].”
This fall, Dr. Sundin will instruct WGS 120: Gender, Sex, and Power and WGS 177: Queer Theatre.
