School of Education announces 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award winners

Everyone's invited to Feb. 16 inaugural event featuring presentations by three trailblazing winners

February 10, 2023

Distinguished alumni honorees, from left, Nancy Hornberger, Patricia Norby, and Manuel Zamarippa

Distinguished alumni honorees, from left, Nancy Hornberger, Patricia Norby, and Manuel Zamarippa

To celebrate our alumni excellence across the arts, health, and education, the School of Education has selected three trailblazing UW–Madison alumni to honor with a Distinguished Alumni Award.

The awards will recognize the talented alumni who have made outstanding contributions to their field.

On Thursday, Feb. 16, between 1 and 3:45 p.m., each recipient will deliver a public presentation followed by a Q&A in the Education Building’s Wisconsin Idea Room. A reception in the Education Building’s Morgridge Commons will follow from 3:45 to 5 p.m.

Learn more and RSVP for these events.

The 2023 Distinguished Alumni Award honorees are as follows:

Patricia Norby (MFA, Art Department, 2002)

Distinguished Alumna of Art

An award-winning art scholar and museum leader, Norby (Purépecha) is the full-time curator of Native American Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Norby is the first person in the museum’s 150-year history to hold this position. She previously served as senior executive and assistant director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in New York, and as director of the D’Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian and Indigenous Studies at the Newberry Library in Chicago.

Norby’s forthcoming book, “Water, Bones, and Bombs,” examines 20th-century American Indian and American art in context with environmental conflicts in northern New Mexico. She also co-edited “Aesthetic Violence: Art and Indigenous Ways of Knowing” in the American Indian Culture and Research Journal.

Norby earned her master of fine arts degree from the School of Education’s Art Department in 2002. She also holds a PhD from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, and has been celebrated by the New York Times, PBS, Forbes Magazine’s “50 Over 50 2021: Vision,” and more.

Read more about Norby’s position at the Met and her experience as an Indigenous artist.

Nancy Hornberger (PhD, Department of Educational Policy Studies, 1985)

Distinguished Alumna of Educational Policy Studies

Hornberger is internationally known for her work in bilingualism and biliteracy, ethnography and language policy, and Indigenous language revitalization. She researches, lectures, teaches, and consults regularly on multilingual education policy and practice in the United States and the Andes (Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador). She also has worked in Brazil, China, South Africa, Sweden, and other parts of the world.

Hornberger received her PhD in educational policy studies from UW–Madison in 1985 and has served as co-editor of the international book series on bilingual education and bilingualism, “Multilingual Matters,” which has surpassed 100 published books since 1995.

Hornberger served as acting and interim dean of the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education (Penn GSE) from 1993-95, held the Goldie Anna chair from 1993-98, and directed/chaired Educational Linguistics for more than 20 years, also convening the annual Nessa Wolfson Colloquium. From 2000-15, she served as convener of Penn GSE’s annual international Ethnography in Education Research Forum, now entering its fifth decade.

Learn more about her accomplishments here.

Manuel Zamarripa (PhD, Department of Counseling Psychology, 2005)

Distinguished Alumnus of Counseling Psychology

Zamarripa is the co-director and co-founder of the Institute of Chicana/o/x Psychology based in Austin, Texas. He conducts community workshops as well as professional development training for educators and mental health professionals on issues related to Chicana/o/x wellness, cultural identity, and mental health from a Chicana/o/x framework. Zamarripa’s publications and presentations in psychology and education focus on Chicana/o/x well-being, racial responsiveness, cultural revitalization, social justice, and leadership.

Zamarripa received his PhD in counseling psychology from UW–Madison, his master’s in counseling psychology from Our Lady of the Lake University, and his bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Notre Dame. He is now a licensed professional counselor and supervisor in Texas, as well as the Dean of Austin Community College.

Discover more about Zamarripa and his research, as well as his work at the Chicana/o/x Psychology Institute.