MSU College of Education Assistant Professor Alexandra (Alex) Allweiss was one of six recipients of an MSU Teacher-Scholar Award at the 2026 All-University Awards – and it’s easy to see why.
For starters, she’s groundbreaking. Allweiss teaches a first-of-its-kind course in her home department, the Department of Teacher Education. TE 982 (Decolonial, Postcolonial and Anticolonial Theories in Education) “provides essential theoretical grounding for doctoral students pursuing critical scholarship.” It’s the first course in the department that centers these theories, scholarship and movements emerging from and rooted in the Global South. She also created the Decolonial Walk, a tour through campus in which “students critically examine the intersections of colonialism, race, and education.” She is also the founder of the Decoloniality Dialogues Collective, a transnational group of “educators, scholars, thinkers and healers who connect over a shared commitment to decolonial praxis.” She is also part of the steering committee that helped develop the recent Decolonial Conference. These, among many other research and outreach initiatives, build on the ways her work centers decolonial (and) feminist frameworks to examine how various overlapping social political systems shape educational policies, practices and experiences as well as movements for justice across global/transnational contexts.
In addition to her own scholarly work, she co-authors peer-reviewed papers with graduate students (as well as fellow MSU colleagues). Outside of MSU, she’s served in leadership roles in a variety of academic organizations, including with (special) interest groups for the American Educational Research Association and the American Anthropological Association.
Student-centered support
But perhaps where Allweiss’s most poignant contributions ring out is in her formal and informal support of students.
“Allweiss’s doctoral advising has been remarkable,” wrote Professor Alicia Alonzo in a nomination letter for the award.
Since joining the college in 2019, Allweiss has served as advisor or dissertation (co-)director for 12 doctoral students, half of whom have already graduated. Moreover, she has served or is serving on 19 additional graduate students’ committees.
Alonzo continued in her letter: “There are very few faculty members in our department who have had such a profound impact on students outside of formal roles. That so many students have sought to work with [her] ... is a testament to students’ appreciation of her scholarly expertise, her deeply principled approach to research, the way she challenges and inspires them, and her generosity.”
And that is one of the many reasons why she fits the university’s call in the Teacher-Scholar Award description for an early career faculty member who has “earned the respect of students and colleagues for their devotion to and skill in teaching.”
Nominator support
More than one group of students and alums co-wrote a nomination letter, supporting Allweiss for the award.
One letter written by Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education students and alums shared: “Among the many remarkable educators that we have encountered at Michigan State University, Dr. Alex Allweiss stands apart. Her courses are intellectually demanding yet profoundly humane; her pedagogy is innovative, research-driven, and socially engaged; [and] her mentorship changes lives. She embodies the values of academic freedom, intellectual honesty and mutual respect that define MSU’s mission.”
In another letter, written by graduate students across several departments and two colleges, they wrote: “[Her] mentorship and research are deeply intertwined with teaching. ... A listener above all, [she] shapes both the academic and personal journeys of those she guides. ... [Allweiss] has a remarkable ability to meet students where they are and guide them toward deeper, more critical reflections, all while creating a deeply humanizing classroom space.”
These efforts are seen and felt across campus.
In addition to her core scholarly home in the Department of Teacher Education, she is also a core faculty member in the MSU Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies and the MSU Center for Gender in Global Context.
"[Her] interwoven commitments to research, teaching and service reflect a scholar who not only produces critical knowledge, but also reimagines the purposes and possibilities of education,” wrote Assistant Professor Shireen Al-Adeimi and Professor and Associate Dean Emerita Lynn Paine in a nomination Letter. “Dr. Allweiss’s work continues to shape how students, colleagues and institutions understand justice and what it means to teach with courage.”