Edmund ‘Ted’ Hamann, Charles Bessey Professor of teaching, learning and teacher education, was selected as the recipient of the 2025 George and Louise Spindler Award by the Council on Anthropology and Education (CAE).
The George and Louise Spindler Award honors scholars/practitioners whose achievements in educational anthropology as researchers or as practitioners have been distinguished, exemplary, and inspirational. It is presented annually as a tribute to George and Louise Spindler in recognition of their significant and ongoing contributions to the field of educational anthropology.
“I was really touched and honored to receive the CAE’s 2025 George and Louise Spindler Award for career achievement at the American Anthropology Association annual meeting,” Hamann said. “For almost as long as I have been involved with CAE (since 1993), I have been aware of this award and an admirer of its recipients. When I started my doctoral program in the mid-1990s, I knew my mentor, Frederick Erickson, had been the fourth Spindler Award winner ever in 1991. Many of the past recipients are legends so it feels a little intimidating to be presumed to be in their company. In careers like mine, you don’t often get feedback about who you have reached and how it has mattered. For that, in addition to feeling honored, I feel very lucky.”
An anthropologist of education, Hamann’s broad-ranging scholarly interests in migration, school reform, comparative education, language education, literacy, and teacher preparation have led to more than 100 publications. In 2019, he was a Fulbright Garcia Robles US scholar in Tijuana, Mexico, and he has twice been a visiting professor at the Universidad de Monterrey, also in Mexico. Hamann has chaired 32 doctoral committees to completion.
Hamann was presented with the award at the 2025 American Anthropological Association annual meeting in November. He was nominated by two of his former students and alums of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Education and Human Sciences, Jen Stacy (PhD, 2015) and Jessica Sierk (PhD, 2016). Stacy and Sirek gathered 81 co-signers for their letter of nomination, including more than a dozen scholars and education leaders based in Mexico.
College of Education and Human Sciences
Teaching, Learning & Teacher Education
