In just five years teaching social work courses at UW-Stevens Point, Assistant Professor Margaret Kubek has strengthened campus programs and helped students reach their goals.
She joined the Department of Sociology and Social Work in 2020, bringing with her experience as a school social worker and teaching for the master’s program at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.
“I pull in examples of my work as a school social worker working with diverse populations as much as I can,” said Kubek. “Students really want to hear things from the field.”
When it comes to course work, Kubek explained, she enjoys curating practical assignments that students might do when they move into practice as a social worker. They conduct interviews and use data mapping tools in the Human Behavior and the Social Environment (SW 377) course she developed. It’s a required course which UWSP sophomore Aziza Nabors said provided her with meaningful cultural knowledge. For her project, Nabors interviewed staff who work for a temporary living shelter in Stevens Point. Students choose where to focus their community analysis. They get a chance to meet practitioners in various social work specialties, gather and present data.
Nabors said she has been interested in social work since middle school. At the age of 14, she was taking care of her grandparents as they entered hospice care. Now, as a social work and sociology major, Nabors is hoping to prepare herself for a career in service of helping others. She said Kubek, as her adviser, has been instrumental in guiding her path and keeping her on track to graduate.
“In classes, each individual has their own relationship with her. She communicates personally, provides updates through email and is always checking in on them in classes,” Nabors said.
For her dedication to student success and her versatile, collaborative teaching style, Kubek was honored with the 2025 University Excellence in Teaching Award.
“It’s well deserved. I do feel she’s genuinely here for us,” said Nabors. “Teaching is definitely something she is passionate about.”
Kubek is skillful in teaching students at a range of levels and in a variety of modalities, fully in-person classes, along with hybrid and asynchronous learners. When the department chose to offer online options for both majors in the department, Kubek connected with the campus learning community of the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning (CITL). She wanted to integrate new strategies and best practices as she developed a new course this summer for students in the forthcoming Master of Social Work (MSW) online program.
“Along with choosing textbooks and reading materials, I also enjoy weaving in multi-media, such as documentaries, to ‘breathe life’ into a particular concept or issue. I enjoy finding relevant readings and representing diverse voices. I try to find things that students will want to read and discuss,” Kubek said.
Social work major Jason Zant is a non-traditional student taking courses remotely. He is balancing full-time work and a family, including his two-year-old and nine-year-old boys. Zant served for eight years in the U.S. Army Reserve after his high school graduation. His first class upon enrolling in the online degree program at UWSP was Kubek’s Cultural Anthropology course.
Although he’d like to be able to enroll in courses on campus, he said Kubek has fostered meaningful engagement using breakout groups in his virtual discussion groups. Zant values the chance to listen to other people’s experiences as well as professional insights from Kubek’s time in school social work.
“She is easy to connect with and very approachable,” Zant said.
Zant aspires to earn his license to practice clinical social work and help other veterans like himself. During his military deployment in Afghanistan, he was a mental health specialist. He talked to troops dealing with mental health challenges and offered support. Now, he has the course work that will provide a foundation to transfer into future social work practice. Besides the well-organized lesson plans, Zant said he has appreciated Kubek’s flexibility and the way she engages her virtual learners.
Kubek said she enjoys when lectures open the door to small group discussions. She strives to create a sense in class that she and her students are delving into the material and learning together.
“If I did have a philosophy, it would involve the idea that I’m not the primary source of knowledge, that everyone has something to bring and can contribute. My goal is to create a safe environment and to bring people together,” said Kubek.
Her focus? Trying to encourage those moments when a topic clicks and inspires her students. Kubek said she’s driven to keep courses relevant and meaningful. For example, she is hoping to explore the incorporation of Artificial Intelligence into the social work profession and ways she can prepare students for that eventuality.
Beyond her instructional duties, Kubek is lending her expertise to develop assessment assignments in order to meet accreditation expectations for the Council on Social Work Education and Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction state licensure for the MSW school social work pathway. She looks forward to the challenge during this exciting time of growth in her department. Her teaching award, she said, is an honor which she shares with her sociology and social work colleagues.
“It’s a testament to how great other faculty are in my department. There are so many people so dedicated to students and dedicated to improving,” she said.