Jeremy Ricketts Honored by Empowering Teaching Excellence

At this year’s Empowering Teaching Excellence (ETE) Conference, held on August 13, 2025, English Department Lecturer Jeremy Ricketts was recognized as a Master Teacher, a terminal credential in the ETE10 program awarded to those who demonstrate teaching improvement and a dedication to student success.

Jeremy got involved with ETE10 right when he arrived at USU in 2020, starting with the ETE Learning Circle, which he described as a powerful community-builder during the isolation the pandemic caused. In Learning Circles, groups of instructors met to discuss teaching topics of interest, selecting books or readings, and how they can incorporate the ideas into their classrooms. 

“Since then, the program has been a meaningful through-line in my professional development,” Jeremy reflects. “It’s introduced me to inspiring colleagues from across the university and pushed me to think more deeply about my teaching. ETE’s model centers on engaging, implementing, and contributing; this process is combined with the built-in practice of reflection after each learning experience, and it has made me a more intentional and reflective teacher. It’s deepened how I think about my pedagogy and helped me translate professional growth into tangible classroom change.”

Earning the Master Teacher Certificate was a five-year process for Jeremy, which represents the effort he put into becoming the teacher he believes his students deserve. “For me, teaching is ultimately about students: their questions, their growth, their sense of possibility,” he comments. “Great teaching isn’t something you arrive at; it’s something you build over time, often in partnership with students themselves. This recognition is meaningful because it affirms that ongoing work and the collaborative spirit behind it, from the colleagues who challenged and inspired me to the students who make the work matter every single day.”