Michigan State University honored Prof. Amanda Flaim with the Teacher-Scholar Award at the All-University Awards Ceremony in April, celebrating her exceptional commitment to teaching and student mentorship.
Flaim, an associate professor with appointments in James Madison College and the Department of Sociology, is recognized for innovative teaching practices that transform the classroom into a space for civic engagement and collaborative learning.
"Dr. Flaim truly fits the teacher-scholar model we advocate for at James Madison,” said Dean Cameron Thies in his nomination letter. “Students routinely remark on the well-structured nature of her classes, the skills they take away from them, the bridges between academic and practical knowledge, and the important connections she makes between scholarly work and social justice.”
Flaim’s scholarship addresses structural violence, political exclusion and displacement. Working collaboratively with Indigenous and agrarian community partners in Southeast Asia, she employs a mixed-methods approach, combining ethnographic, qualitative data with quantitative analysis. Her work has led to consultations with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and UNESCO, addressing critical issues from Indigenous rights to environmental impacts of development projects.
Flaim teaches a variety of courses, including the introductory course for the Comparative Cultures and Politics major, the college’s first Qualitative Research Methods course, Problems and Paradoxes in Global Development, and a senior seminar titled "Cultivating the Pluriverse: Belonging and Displacement beyond Modernity.” She also contributes to the first-year program at JMC and teaches both graduate seminars and undergraduate lecture courses in the Department of Sociology.
In the classroom, Flaim strives to create environments where students explore diverse perspectives, model civic dialogue and develop critical research skills. Her courses feature independent research assignments alongside opportunities for active listening, dialogue and collaborative learning.
“I have become convinced of the critical and particular role of college classrooms in forging values of compassion, humility and mutual respect among young adults,” explained Flaim in her teaching philosophy. “The college classroom is a diverse civic space where people engage with unfamiliar and often uncomfortable perspectives, and is therefore a microcosm of democracy.”
Her qualitative methods course, as an example, teaches students foundational skills of independent inquiry while modeling the importance of active listening, personal reflection, dialogue and collaboration. Flaim employs a scaffolded approach where assignments build toward the comprehensive research projects, equipping students with discourse analysis, interview, and ethnography skills, all of which train students to listen deeply, compassionately, and to advance analytic insight.
“Her course sessions are rich and generative spaces for discussion, wherein students not only find space to reflect and come to an understanding of course content, but to engage in meaningful dialogue, practice and community with one another,” wrote one former student.
This approach extends beyond traditional courses to her leadership of the $1 million Mekong Culture WELL project, funded by the Henry Luce Foundation in 2020. The collaborative project advances interdisciplinary and Indigenous understandings of Water, Ecologies, Land and Livelihoods (WELL) justice along the imperiled Mekong River.
Through this work, Flaim supports a vast team of scholars, postdocs and students both at MSU and in the Mekong delta region. Several students have co-authored research papers, while others have secured prestigious fellowships and awards and admissions to graduate programs through their involvement.
Flaim is the fourth consecutive JMC professor to receive the Teacher-Scholar Award. Previous Madison faculty recipients have included Linda Sayed (2024), Daniel Ahlquist (2023) and Amy Simon (2022). This ongoing recognition of teaching at JMC speaks directly to the unique and invigorating teaching environment cultivated by the college’s faculty members. Flaim credits them with informing and improving her teaching practice, pushing her to grow as an educator.
“I came into the college alongside Sejuti Das Gupta, Rashida Harrison, Linda Sayed, Daniel Ahlquist, Tacuma Peters and Amy Simon. Being a part of such a dynamic cohort made for a really unique and invigorating teaching environment,” she explained.
“All of my colleagues are phenomenal educators in their own right. From them, I’ve not only learned more about the world, but also different ways of engaging my students, and facilitating their growth as scholars and citizens.”