Amy Simons wins Kemper Award, Mizzou’s highest teaching honor
By Austin Fitzgerald
Photo by Nate Brown
COLUMBIA, Mo. (March 4, 2025) — Professor Amy Simons at the Missouri School Journalism has received the William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence, Mizzou’s highest faculty teaching award. The award, which honors five excellent teachers at the university each year, comes with a $15,000 prize.
Simons, a member of the School’s faculty since 2010, was surprised during class Tuesday morning by Mizzou chancellor Mun Choi, Provost Matthew Martens, School of Journalism Dean David Kurpius and a host of colleagues and community members.
“Amy is known for setting high standards for students while being passionately committed to their learning and deeply caring for their professional and personal growth,” Kurpius said. “The Kemper Fellowship is the most fitting way to recognize her remarkable leadership as a nationally acclaimed teacher.”
Simons is the course coordinator for J1400, Applied Projects for Journalism and Strategic Communication, which centers around hands-on projects in line with the School’s Missouri Method of learning by doing. She was speaking to Assistant Professor Brittany Hilderbrand’s section of the course when university leadership burst in with the announcement.
“This is such an honor,” Simons said, nearly brought to tears by the news. “To be here not only with students — to be in this room with colleagues, mentors, people who have made me the professor and educator that I am, it’s such an honor and such a surprise.”
As a teacher, Simons has been noted for her ability to quickly incorporate changes in the fast-paced news industry into the curriculum. She was one of the first at the School to introduce AI into the classroom, a topic on which she has also trained industry professionals and school districts.
“This is such an honor. To be here not only with students — to be in this room with colleagues, mentors, people who have made me the professor and educator that I am, it’s such an honor and such a surprise.”
Amy Simons
She has also been a prolific designer and overhauler of courses for undergraduates and graduate students alike, including the highly popular Journalism for Non-Majors, which she also teaches.
Regardless of her role, her positive impact on students has been substantial.
“Professor Simons embodies everything that I could’ve hoped for in a journalism professor,” wrote Annie Goldman, a junior at the School of Journalism, in support of Simons’ nomination. “She shares candid advice stemming from her immense professional experience, she is passionate about uplifting young journalists and strategic communicators hoping to break into their careers and she constantly adapts her teaching to reflect changes in the industry.”
Her efforts are also highly appreciated by her colleagues, seven of whom — all former Kemper Award winners from the School of Journalism — signed on to a nomination letter that highlighted Simons contributions to the School’s online courses.
“Without question, Amy is our ‘go to’ faculty member when it comes to troubleshooting classroom technologies or testing new teaching methods,” the group wrote. “Over the past decade, she has transformed many of the School’s online courses, leading course redesign projects to expand the reach and reputation of the university.”
Simons’ win marks the third time in the last five years that a School of Journalism faculty member has received a Kemper Award, following Professor Elizabeth Brixey in 2022 and Professor Martha Steffens in 2021. 14 faculty from the School have been honored since the award’s inception in 1991.
Updated: March 5, 2025