English PhD Candidate, Tanner Menard, Receives the 2025 Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award
The Graduate School congratulates Tanner Menard, recipient of the 2025 Graduate Student Teaching Excellence Award. This award recognizes a distinctive graduate student for outstanding teaching and effective instruction. Its recipients create learning environments that not only produce desired learning outcomes but also lift undergraduate students to reach their full potential.
Tanner Menard has taught a wide range of undergraduate courses since joining the University as a doctoral student in English. His teaching portfolio includes research writing, creative writing, and courses in Indigenous literature—many of which he designed. As a former tribal council member for the Atakapa Ishak Nation, he has a unique voice that helps combine his knowledge and cultural background into his teachings.
With the support of his department, Menard proposed and developed two original courses this year: Perspectives in Indigenous Literature and World Indigenous Literature, both offered through ENGL 211. These classes showcase his commitment to research, as well as his dedication to preserving language and Indigenous stories. His department praises him as one of its most productive graduate students. Menard is already the author of a full-length poetry collection, a chapbook, and several albums of experimental music and spoken word.
Menard believes literature and creative writing can help students see the world in new ways. He uses Indigenous stories, science fiction, experimental poetry, and spiritual life stories to help them explore language, identity, and community more deeply. “My goal is to cultivate a space where students recognize their own voices as part of an ongoing cultural conversation that invites them to reimagine both the past and the future,” he explains.
Menard makes a great impact as a creative writing instructor by guiding his students effectively through different approaches of literary form. In ENGL 223, he introduces learners to traditional genres such as the short story and elegy, while also inviting them to explore hybrid and experimental forms. His students continue to provide above-average evaluations, noting his clarity, structure, and encouragement in both creative and research writing settings. One undergraduate described his ENGL 102 course as “probably my favorite college class yet.”
Menard recounts that one of his best teaching moments came from leading students through memory mapping exercises. This exercise encourages students to connect with moments in text through family, cultural experiences, or personal history. The end result is a development of empathy for different perspectives. “When students see their own lives reflected in seemingly distant narratives, their engagement shifts from passive consumption to active dialogue,” he notes.
By utilizing a supportive teaching style with teamwork, discussion, and creativity, Menard makes the most of the platform awarded to him by the English Department and the Graduate School. Every semester, he watches his students grow and develop their skills. Activities such as ancestor mapping, combined with digital culture and traditional texts, help him connect students across generations and cultures.
Tanner Menard, thank you for your outstanding contributions to undergraduate education at UL Lafayette. Your dedication to excellence in teaching makes a big impact on your students and the campus community. The Graduate School is proud of your work and excited to see all that you will accomplish in the future.
