Educators across the University of Nebraska–Lincoln nurture students’ passions and provide life-changing knowledge to propel them throughout their professional and personal lives. Inspired by this transformational process and the selfless dedication of instructors, the Honors Innovative Teaching Awards were developed to formally recognize these efforts.
The Honors Innovative Teaching Awards are a partnership between the Center for Transformative Teaching and Nebraska Honors to celebrate Honors faculty who are creative and effective in teaching and learning. Each year, two Honors educators are awarded up to $1,000 in professional development funds for their innovative teaching techniques and student-centered, inclusive learning environments.
“Innovative teachers pave the way for successful students, so we’re thrilled to support this initiative that showcases the wonderful work of instructors in the Honors Program,” Nick Monk, CTT director, said.
The winners of the 2025 Honors Innovative Teaching Awards are Frauke Hachtmann and Zachary Schafer.
Hachtmann, professor of advertising and public relations, led the ADPR 189H first-year Honors seminar, Containing the Fire: Ethics, Public Relations, and Crisis Communication. The course explored how organizations and brands respond to crisis situations by anticipating, preventing and mitigating crises through communication.
Hachtmann built the course to mimic the public relations field. Specifically, she developed hands-on activities to promote application and dialogue over traditional lectures.
“Every class period, Dr. Hachtmann had so many unique class ideas that had many experiential learning activities attached to them so we could learn content in new ways,” her nominator, rising sophomore Tanisha Senapati, shared. “She also encouraged collaboration throughout class, whether it was friendly debates about current issues or group projects in creating crisis communication plans.”
One of the most memorable lessons, according to Hachtmann, was a surprise press conference to mirror real-world crisis management while encouraging her students to think on their feet and apply their class techniques effectively.
During these exercises, Hachtmann found ways to build a class environment conducive to all students freely sharing their perspectives. This meant facilitating relationships with each student and creating team bonding activities outside of the classroom, such as an outdoor retreat with the UNL Outdoor Adventure Center and the incorporation of mini games within her curriculum.
“In a class where we talked about sensitive issues and hot topics, the community that Dr. Hachtmann formed made me feel comfortable to voice my opinion and share my thoughts,” Senapati said.
With a diverse set of majors represented in her course, many falling outside of the public relations field, Hachtmann also found ways to make her lectures applicable to everyone.
“With the interdisciplinary nature of my course, I wanted to create a space that brought different voices to the conversation and illustrated how the public relations field can be applicable to every profession,” Hachtmann said.
Hachtmann therefore centered her class on how crisis communication touches all aspects of a business and how understanding the inner workings of public relations can help employees at all levels.
“She understood that many were not taking this class for our major but was able to still find ways to connect the material to our majors, which was really appreciated,” Senapati said. “She is able to explain such complex subjects in a way that is easy to understand, and I respect everything she does.”
Despite a very different disciplinary focus, Schafer, a May 2025 doctoral graduate in teaching, learning, and teacher education, had a similar impact on Honors students. Across three sections of his first-year student development course, UHON 102H: The Science of You, he led students as they explored their identities and reflected deeply on the course content.
“Zach shifted the focus from the professor to the students, which allowed for more discussion and student involvement,” his student nominator, Leah Bates said.
Schafer worked closely with his student learning assistants, Bates and Shaundra Wiederholt, to develop tailored activities and projects to help students develop their sense of self. These included weekly journals to serve as a source of documentation and reflection, as well as an ongoing timeline of significant life events to make the class’s concepts more purposeful.
“These learning tools were a big proponent in helping student develop their sense of self. They helped students extract the core essence of the week’s content and make it purposeful to their own lives,” Schafer said.
He also integrated mini-games and interactive scenarios to make the weekly topics personable to students and give them a sense of ownership over the course material. Schafer embraced them as a way for students to engage with the content of the course while relating it to real-life situations.
Beyond these unique instructional methods, Schafer also showed a vested interest in his students that helped form a close-knit and engaged community.
“It wasn’t just his format for teaching that impacted the students; it was his personality as well,” Bates wrote in her nomination letter. “You could tell that he cares a lot about his students, and his attitude in class allowed the students to open up more, which allowed for deeper discussion and better understanding of the topics.”
Schafer made a point to reach out to absent students and stayed alert to any changes in student moods or patterns. Schafer found that deeply listening and staying curious about who his students were provided him with energy and motivation for the course.
“I truly look up to Zach and the work he has been doing. Zach has shown me how a professor should treat their students with respect, and they will respect you,” Wiederholt said.
Both Hachtmann and Schafer embody what it means to make learning personal and purposeful. Through building trust, encouraging exploration, and fostering open communication they helped UNL students thrive both academically and personally.
