2023 Teaching Excellence Award

Professor of English

Dr. Albert Rivero has taught at Marquette for 41 years, transforming generations of students’ appreciation of art, literature and film. Throughout the decades, Rivero’s course content has remained fresh ­— helped by the fact that he discards his notes at the end of each term to start afresh. As noted by Dr. Gerry Canavan, associate professor and chair of English, Rivero is an institution within the department.

“Dr. Rivero’s commitment to Marquette and to our students is visible in everything he does,” Canavan said. “Over the course of his career here he has been an embodiment of the teacher-scholar model we use at Marquette, using his research to direct his teaching and using his teaching to guide his research.”

Rivero is commended for his championing of women’s writing and feminist approaches to literature, as displayed in his popular and long-running Jane Austen course.

“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to my family, my colleagues in the English Department, and, most of all, the students I have taught for the last 41 years at Marquette for this award,” Rivero said. “I have been fortunate to have a job that I love and to have spent my life surrounded by amazing human beings. Because late in coming, this award means more to me now than it would have earlier in my career. Thank you!”