A faculty member at The University of New Mexico is set to receive a national teaching award. Shawn Secatero, Ph.D., is an associate professor within the College of Education and Human Sciences, and the coordinator of the Promoting our Leadership, Learning, and Empowering our Nations (POLLEN) Program.

Secatero will be presented with the 2026 recipient of the Best Practice Award in Support of Multicultural Education and Diversity by the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), one of the highest honors AACTE bestows.

"We are very honored to receive this prestigious award on behalf of our outstanding teachers who participate in the POLLEN program, Secatero said. "They are the next generation of leaders in our Native-serving schools throughout New Mexico and the Navajo Nation."

The vision of the POLLEN program began in 2016, when the UNM Educational Leadership faculty identified the need to increase the number of licensed school administrators serving Native American students in public, Bureau of Indian Education, tribal grant, and Native charter schools in New Mexico.

Through research, teaching, and service, the POLLEN program has evolved as a successful cohort model for advanced-level 2 teachers to attain an accelerated educational specialist certificate and administrative licensure through indigenous-based leadership and philosophy.

"As we continue to decolonize our teacher preparation and educational leadership programs at UNM, the POLLEN program is helping guide our work," said Laura Haniford, chair of the Teacher Education, Education Leadership & Policy department. "In these times of uncertainty and attacks against any focus on diversity, UNM is standing strong by refocusing our efforts on preparation for this particular place and the people who have inhabited it since time immemorial."

Secatero will receive the award in New Orleans in February.