Iman Zawahry, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Media Production, Management, and Technology lecturer and one of the first hijabi American-Muslim filmmakers, has been selected as the 2023-2024 UF Undergraduate Teacher of the Year. The award encourages and rewards excellence, innovation and effectiveness in undergraduate teaching.  On April 20, she was named UFCJC’s Teacher of the Year.

Zawahry, who joined UFCJC full time in 2018, teaches film production focusing on narrative film. Her students have been nominated and received awards from numerous organizations, including the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) Suncoast Chapter Student Production Awards and the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts.

In 2021, she was named the College’s Mentor of the Year. Her debut feature-length film, “Americanish,” has been winning multiple awards at film festivals across the country. The romantic comedy was distributed by Sony Pictures and can be seen on all platforms.

Zawahry is the third UFCJC faculty member to receive this honor in the past five years and the seventh faculty member to be recognized since the program launched in 2000. Journalism Senior Lecturer Harrison Hove was selected in 2020-21, Journalism Lecturer Moni Basu was honored in 2019-20, Journalism Professor Ted Spiker received the honor in 2016-17, Public Relations Professor Ann Christiano received the award in 2014-15, Journalism Associate Professor Norm Lewis won in 2009-10 and Mike Foley, the Hugh Cunningham Professor in Journalism Excellence, won in 2006-07.

Posted: April 30, 2024
Category: College News
Tagged as: 2023-2024 UF Undergraduate Teacher of the Year, Americanish, Iman Zawahry, UFCJC Teacher of the Year