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Why does the expression “I feel like” cause so much distress for some linguists? We hear the phrase all the time: “I feel like that politician is a liar,” or “I feel like this film is overrated.” To some linguists, this phrase reflects the disastrous feminization of language, a sign of a broader cultural reluctance to commit to decisive, rational thought. Is there another way to understand these shifts in language?

For over a decade, Mark Shea has encouraged a different kind of assessment, teaching us new ways to hear the intuitive and emotional frequencies of common phrases such as “I feel like” and many other fluctuations in the English language. Trained as an applied linguist whose doctorate focused on second-language acquisition and pedagogy, Mark approaches language as a technology rather than a standard to uphold. As Director of the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program and the Speaking, Arguing and Writing Program (SAW), Mark’s linguistic ethos is centered on the way race, language, and power intersect. By demonstrating how language operates as a technology of power that both connects and controls, he has strived to reframe multilingualism at 69��Ʒ��Ƶ as a resource rather than a deficit. He has encouraged us to hear accented English as a source of cultural enrichment rather than a problem to be solved. He has sought to expose and undo the stigma that minoritized communities experience when their dialects look like a language but sound like a race (J. Rosa, 2019). These are a few of the many reasons we are honored to present Professor Mark Shea with the 69��Ʒ��Ƶ College Faculty Award for Teaching, which recognizes his achievements in the classroom and in facilitating a campus-wide cultural shift around multilingual learning.

The impact of Mark’s efforts to integrate the values of multilingual learning have transformed every corner of our campus community. He has cultivated this culture shift through a wide-array of initiatives and collaborations. These have included facilitating TLI faculty learning circles, launching a Black Linguistic Justice community project, organizing a BOOM presentation on “Multilingual 69��Ʒ��Ƶ,” collaborating with science faculty to support student comprehension skills, and guiding the development of creative writing courses that are inclusive of multilingual students. For faculty across the disciplines, Mark has offered indispensable ESOL support by making himself available to meet with their students. Colleagues describe him as a miracle worker, a teacher who can renew confidence in the writing abilities of the most anxious and self-doubting student.

Mark’s achievements are equally impressive in the classroom. His evaluations could be mistaken for a stand-up comedian’s, with students regularly commenting on how “funny,” “hilarious,” “entertaining,” and “fun” his classes are. There is an undeniable sense of enjoyment, pleasure, and warmth that emanates from his classes; one student recollected that “it felt really good to be laughing at 8:30 most days.” Mark has also been a college leader in researching, developing, and implementing alternative models of student assessment, whose impact on student learning has been game-changing in the post-Covid era. Without the pressure of traditional grading metrics, students often experience a newfound excitement and creativity in their writing. One student described the way his system allowed them to “relax and have fun with the assignments, which in the end produces the best writing.” Mark strikes the perfect balance of nurturing critical skills while creating the best conditions for student learning.

It is with immense gratitude from his students and colleagues that we honor Mark with the Faculty Award for Teaching. We thank him for being a model of teaching excellence and for his contributions to making 69��Ʒ��Ƶ a more inclusive multilingual campus.