Meet Dr. Karen Acosta, Recipient of VSU’s 2026 Presidential Excellence Award for Online Teaching

Dr. Karen Acosta has earned the 2026 Presidential Excellence Award for Online Teaching at Valdosta State University. She joined the faculty of VSU’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences in Fall 2013 and currently serves as a professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages. She is pictured with Dr. Donald J. Green, president of VSU.

VALDOSTA — Dr. Donald J. Green, president of Valdosta State University, has honored Dr. Karen Acosta with the 2026 Presidential Excellence Award for Online Teaching.

The Presidential Excellence Award for Online Teaching recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates a strong commitment to quality online teaching and learning, employs innovative online teaching practices, and develops rapport with individual learners in and beyond the virtual classroom.

Acosta joined the faculty of VSU’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences in Fall 2013 and currently serves as a professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages.

VSU: What are your favorite classes to teach and your favorite topics to research?

Acosta: I love teaching beginning Spanish students! My favorite research centers on teaching strategies and resources to foster student engagement and interaction in the Spanish language classroom. I also love reading and writing about graphic novels by Hispanic women authors.

VSU: What has proven most effective in increasing student learning in your online classroom?

Acosta: Communication is key! Creating an online environment that invites interaction and sharing with classmates makes the class feel like a community and it bridges the gap that online classes usually create.

VSU: When it comes to developing a meaningful rapport with your online students, how do you ensure that your students feel actively engaged in and satisfied with their online learning experience?

Acosta: I make myself available and communicate promptly and extensively with my online students. They know who to contact and what to expect. This expectation is set early on so that they will feel confident in their own learning and know that they are cared for. It is a big deal to be entrusted with guiding their language learning path!

VSU: What advice do you have for other faculty who wish to identify more effective ways to stimulate engagement and comprehension in their own online classroom?

Acosta: Come chat with me! We can look at tools and resources that are available and decide what would work for your class format and field! A lot of it applies to many areas, and some tools are specific and just require some poking around to adapt.