Wilson Wins 2025 CSU Outstanding Distance Educator Award

Josh Zaffos

February 6, 2025

Dr. Emily Wilson, faculty in the Department of Anthropology and Geography and the Honors Program, has won the 2025 Outstanding Distance Educator Award from CSU Online. Wilson leads classes that cover classical archaeology, including popular CSU Online offerings, Ancient Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll (ANTH 261, also now offered on campus) and Archaeology of Ancient Roman Food (ANTH 356) in addition to classes she teaches on campus and abroad. Wilson was also previously recognized as the Honors Professor of the Year in 2024.

In Fall 2025, Forbes ranked CSU’s online Anthropology B.A. as the #5 online program within the field after evaluating three dozen programs across the nation.

Wilson has been an innovator in online higher education, developing content that is interactive, experiential, and engaging on screen. In Archaeology of Roman Food, she includes baking tutorials and even challenges students to make their own loaves of bread from ancient Roman recipes and to participate in online symposia with peers.

She has also earned a reputation as an attentive and encouraging instructor among students.

A student nominee wrote of Wilson: “I took four of her classes while completing my Online Anthropology degree. They were all some of my favorite classes I took for my degree…. They were immersive and I learned so much. She gives really thorough feedback, which I really appreciated. Two of the classes we did extensive research papers and she was there every step of the way. I was excited to do the projects because she was excited to read them. It made me excited to learn.”

Wilson, additionally, leads two hybrid abroad-online courses that take students to Europe to deliver experiential learning at historic and cultural sites in England (Edge of Empire: England: Hadrian’s Wall, ANTH 306A) and Italy (Pompeii in Italy: Life and Death of a Roman City, ANTH 357A/382) for several weeks before completing content and projects online.