March 13, 2025
Contact: Eric Stann, StannE@missouri.edu
Matthew Martens, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Missouri, and Sarah Dubbert, president of Commerce Bank’s Missouri community markets, awarded a 2025 William T. Kemper Fellowship for Teaching Excellence to Julie Passanante Elman today. Elman is an associate professor in Mizzou’s College of Arts and Science. She is also founding director of the university’s Center for the Humanities and founding director of the Program in Health Humanities.
Cooper Drury, dean of the College of Arts and Science, joined other leaders in surprising Elman by honoring her with the fellowship, which includes a $15,000 stipend. Kemper Fellowships are awarded to five outstanding teachers at the University of Missouri each year.
The William T. Kemper Fellowships for Teaching Excellence were established in 1991 with a $500,000 gift. Kemper, a 1926 Mizzou graduate, was a well-known civic leader in Kansas City until his death in 1989. His 52-year career in banking included top positions at banks in Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Commerce Bank manages the trust fund.
Julie Passanante Elman biography
Julie Passanante Elman, an associate professor of women’s and gender studies, is known for being a fierce advocate for students, creating a space where they can learn, grow and find their voices.
“At the heart of Dr. Elman’s teaching effectiveness is her unique ability to include students as collaborators in their own education,” Linda Reeder, former chair, and Amanda Rose, chair of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, wrote in their nomination letter. “She makes a long-lasting, in some cases life-long, impact on her students’ development as scholars, professionals and members of society.”
Elman says that teaching and learning involve acknowledging and accommodating individual needs.
“I believe students are better positioned to claim their educations when they are supported in ways that help them flourish rather than simply cope,” she wrote of her teaching philosophy. “Inviting students to claim their education is the first step in guiding them toward thoughtful and engaged cultural citizenship and the lifelong learning such citizenship entails.”
And that philosophy has made a tremendous difference in the lives of students taking classes such as health humanities.
“My experience in Dr. Elman’s class was invaluable,” a former student wrote in a letter supporting the nomination. “It was truly the first time in my life that I felt like I could learn just to learn. Needless to say, it was a refreshing experience that led me to want to learn more about health beyond the scope of science.”
Abigail Ruhman, BA, BJ ’22, wrote in a letter of support that she could not have imagined the impact Elman would have on her life.
“In the space of one semester, Professor Elman fostered in me an excitement for learning,” Ruhman wrote. “Every moment of success I experienced in college and since is linked back to Professor Elman’s instruction in some way.”
Elman is the inaugural director of the Center for the Humanities, an interdisciplinary institute housed in the College of Arts and Science that aims to bring together collaborators in the humanities. She also led the effort to create a new degree program in health humanities and now serves as the inaugural director of the program.
“Dr. Elman has spent her time at MU increasing opportunities for students and empowering faculty in support of our university’s commitment to excellence in teaching,” Seth Howes, associate professor of German, wrote in a letter of support. “Her surpassing work in the classroom is matched only by her tireless advocacy for the importance of teaching outside it.”
This is the latest of a string of accolades Elman has received, including the 2020 Maxine Christopher Shutz Award and Lecture for Distinguished Teaching and the 2020 Lee Henson Access Mizzou Award.
Elman received a bachelor of arts in English and Hispanic languages and literatures from SUNY-Stony Brook University in 2001 and a doctoral degree in American studies from George Washington University in 2009.
