The 2025 Outstanding Teaching Awards: Kelly Bradley

This summer, UKNow is highlighting one of the winners of the University of Kentucky’s 2025 Outstanding Teaching Awards, given by the Office for Faculty Advancement with the Office of the Provost.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (July 9, 2025) —  Kelly Bradley, Ph.D., professor of educational policy studies and evaluation in the University of Kentucky College of Education, is one of nine winners to receive the University of Kentucky’s 2025 Outstanding Teaching Awards.

These awards identify and recognize individuals who demonstrate special dedication to student achievement and who are successful in their teaching. Recipients were selected via nomination and reviewed by a selection committee based in the UK Provost’s Office for Faculty Advancement and the Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching (CELT).

Bradley has taught at UK for 23 years, serving as chair, program chair and interim director of graduate studies in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation (EPE) during that time. She has developed and taught 13 courses, often including cross-listed courses and courses widely taken by students in programs across the university.

“Teaching has always been at the heart of my ‘why,’ so while I don’t do it for recognition, this honor truly means a lot,” Bradley said. “I’m grateful to be part of a department — Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation — that values student-centered learning, mentorship and supporting the whole student in both their academic and professional journeys.”

Raised in rural Ravenswood, West Virginia, Bradley says she carries an appreciation for the role education plays in shaping opportunity and community.

“That foundation continues to inspire my work — to create learning environments where students feel supported and encouraged to grow, lead and make a difference,” she said.

In her nomination letter, Meghan Pifer, Ph.D., professor and chair of EPE, emphasized Bradley’s role as an advisor and champion of graduate students.

“[Dr. Bradley] advises graduate students on their studies, career opportunities and goals, professional socialization activities, citizenship within the department and the academy, life at UK, and all of the stressors, worries and interruptions that accompany a graduate student’s journey,” Pifer said. “Her approach serves more than the individual learners who are a part of her classes and research teams. She also works to ensure that their families are included in educational journeys, such as recognizing parenting and caregiving roles, demonstrating flexibility and support, modeling and sharing her own journey, and celebrating shifts in intergenerational legacies that can be so powerfully launched through educational attainment and professional advancement.”

“I can [attribute] much of my success as a student, as well as my peers/cohorts’ success, to her great mentorship and research/methods prowess demonstrated in my time at the University of Kentucky,” a student said in her nomination letter.

“It's been said that it just takes one person to make a difference in someone's life, and for me, that person is Dr. Bradley,” another student said.  

This fall, Bradley will begin a new chapter of her career as dean of the College of Education and Professional Development at Marshall University in West Virginia. She credits UK with giving her the foundation and opportunities to take this next step.

“While I’m returning to my home state, Kentucky will always feel like a second home,” she said. “I’m grateful to carry forward a commitment to teaching and student success shaped by my time here.”

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This year’s Outstanding Teaching Awards were given to six faculty and three graduate teaching assistants. Each winner received an award certificate, a commemorative engraved gift and a cash award in recognition of their teaching excellence at a campus ceremony on May 1. Read more here.