The Illinois MATESL Program has a long tradition of award for students in our program for their work a Teaching Assistants, Researchers, Innovation, and for their Academic Excellence.  The links below will take you to individual pages describing each award and listing the full list of recipients of those awards since their inception.  

The Katherine O. Ashton Award for Outstanding Masters Thesis

• This is an award given to a graduating MATESL student who has completed a thesis project that shows excellence in research design, data analysis, and clarity of writing. The award is decided by the majority of MATESL faculty.  

The Mary A. Hussey Award for Excellent in ESL Teaching 

• This is an award given to a graduating TA in the ESL Service Courses who has shown excellence in teaching as well as many of the following factors: materials preparation, syllabus design, test creation and administration, innovative learning experiences, collegiality and helpfulness to peers. This award is decided by the ESL Service Courses supervisors. 

The Peter Strevens Award for Academic Excellence

• This is an award given to a graduating MATESL student who has a 4.0 GPA going into the last semester before graduation and who, in other ways, has distinguished themself in an academic manner. This award is decided by the majority of MATESL faculty. 

The Peter Strevens Award for Excellent in Teaching at the Intensive English Institute

• This is an award given to a graduating MATESL TA in the IEI who has distinguished themself not only by superb teaching, but also by excellence in a number of other related activities, such as materials development, special innovations, and by a spirit of helpfulness to colleagues. This award is decided by the IEI faculty. 

The C. C. Seetoo Family Scholarship Fund

• This research award is the result of a generous gift by Amy Dah Sun Seetoo, a graduate of the Illinois MATESL program.  The Fund shall support scholarships for graduate students in the TESL program. Preference shall be given to students who aim to advance cross cultural communication in learning and teaching English as a second language in innovative and enterprising ways such as the ESL work in the fields of law, diplomacy, and business among others, and such may be determined by students' essays which discuss proposals for expanded implementation of written topics.