In the early years of her career, Amy Hornby Uribe taught Spanish to middle and high school students.  

When she was given the opportunity to earn a graduate degree—fully funded—and teach at the college level, she couldn’t pass it up.  

Although she missed her younger students, Amy was driven to train aspiring middle and high school teachers to “change the world through the profession.” 

Now, Amy is entering her 13th year of teaching at Winona State. Her favorite part of her job is interacting with her students:  

“Whenever I’m having kind of a bad day or a bad week, just going to class and being with my students gives me energy.”

• Dr. Hornby Uribe has a farm in Wisconsin.
• She enjoys hiking, especially the local Driftless Region.
• She also likes to ride her tandem bicycle with her husband.

Each year, Amy partners with Dr. Linda D’Amico in Global Studies to host the Civic Engagement & Leadership Conference. This conference celebrates underserved high school student populations by stressing the power of bilingualism and offering educational workshops that foster pride in diversity.  

Students at Winona State who take an upper-level Global Studies course have the opportunity to design and run workshops at this conference. Amy also incorporates this conference directly into her curriculum in an upper-level Spanish course to give Warriors the space to be proud of their identities:   

“I would say probably 80% of the students that attended [last year] were Latinx. Most of our students are first generation… Maybe their parents are immigrants; maybe they’re immigrants. So, they’re not necessarily a group of students who have had a chance to be on a lot of college campuses and see themselves [in] higher education.”  

Amy gets her students excited about teaching Spanish by bringing them to the yearly Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures (MCTLC) conference. And as a board member and Future Educator Outreach Coordinator of the MCTLC, Amy focuses on drawing pre-service language teachers from around the state to the conference. 

Winona State’s Spanish program provides funding for students to attend the MCTLC conference, putting WSU on the map as a resource for world language education.

Amy Hornby Uribe’s constant dedication toward her students paved the way for her receiving a special educator’s award this past year. 

One of Amy’s previous students began teaching in Spain right after graduation, and she was so thankful for everything that Amy had done to support her to become a successful world language educator. 

That student ended up nominating Amy for the 2023 Certificate of Recognition through the Minnesota Council on the Teaching of Languages and Cultures (MCTLC). Amy was selected and awarded last October. 

This MCTLC award recognizes Amy for her contributions in advising teacher candidates, assisting them in preparing for licensure exams, and finding meaningful clinical placements. 

Amy views this award as a great way to build Winona State University’s Spanish program: 

“To see that the person who runs the Spanish Teaching program got an award for their service in the field, I think, elevates the program in terms of opening doors for our students as they head out into the profession.”