Curriculum, Instruction and Teacher Education Ph.D. candidate Kasun Gajasinghe is a recipient of the MSU Excellence-in-Teaching Citation Award. Each year, the university presents the award to a select number of teaching assistants who have demonstrated exceptional dedication and proficiency in fulfilling their classroom duties.
Gajasinghe has spent the past three years instructing courses in the Global Educators Cohort Program and most recently the World Languages Teacher Certification program in the Department of Teacher Education. His favorite courses to teach are TE352: Migration and Education, as well as TE 353: International Education.
Set to graduate in Summer 2025, Gajasinghe brings a deeply reflective, justice-centered approach to the field – one rooted in care, critical inquiry and a commitment to learning with and from the margins.
“It is through continual reflection on my own vulnerabilities as well as complicities, that I aim to create a learning environment where students feel supported, seen and empowered as we collectively engage with present challenges from patriarchy to white supremacy, to imperialism and anthropogenic climate change,” said Gajasinghe.
He was formally recognized at the All-University Awards Ceremony on April 7, 2025.
Rooted in global perspective
Gajasinghe first arrived in the United States as a Fulbright Scholar to pursue his master’s degree. He began his doctoral studies at the College of Education during the pandemic and was impressed with how faculty in the Department of Teacher Education stayed connected with the graduate students and checked in every step of the way.
In 2024, he was one of ten individuals to be awarded the prestigious Witness Institute Fellowship, a 15-month fellowship dedicated to continuing the work of human rights activist Elie Wiesel.
His scholarly work explores the intersections of curriculum, coloniality and language politics, focusing on colonial presences in post-colonial education in Sri Lanka. He is also interested in understanding the entanglements of institutionalized religions, public education and state violence.
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