Dr. Curry Kennedy, an assistant professor in the Department of English who specializes in rhetoric, is one of nine faculty members at Texas A&M University to be named the Center for Teaching Excellence (CTE) 2026–2027 Montague-CTE Scholars. This year marks the 36th anniversary of this prestigious award, which continues to celebrate and support early-career faculty who demonstrate a profound commitment to undergraduate education at Texas A&M University.
The awardees, who are tenure-track assistant professors who show exceptional passion and early success in teaching, receive a $6,500 grant to further their teaching excellence and support innovative undergraduate instructional efforts. Curry will use his funds to develop a course that imagines ways that rhetoric's traditional practices can be turned to community learning experiences.
“Think listening sessions at elder-care facilities, public deliberations that bring people of various perspectives on an issue together, saying circles in which people share and explain the stories that have shaped them in their home communities,” he said.
There are two ideas at the heart of Curry’s teaching style: listening and play. “My teaching, when I'm doing it right, is an act of playful listening, that hears — really hears — what students are saying and then riffs on and plays off their contributions. Listening is essential, because students say what they really mean only when they feel they are being heard. Play is essential, because it allows students to experiment and toy with new perspectives in a low-risk and friendly environment.”
Curry, who received his undergraduate degree from the University of Arkansas in 2015 and his graduate degrees from The Pennsylvania State University in 2017 and 2021, said winning this award is a lesson in how to guard and cultivate the genuine good of humanistic study.
“By giving me this award, my colleagues and students have taken care of me, and that makes me want to do the same in return,” he said.
Curry said he became awestruck by the power of words while in high school. Late in his undergraduate studies, he learned about the discipline of rhetoric, which became his focus. “Rhetoric is important because it teaches people to speak and listen carefully and mindfully,” he said. “A strange quiet would come upon the world if everyone did that.”
“Dr. Kennedy exemplifies everything that Texas A&M is and could be,” said Dr. Emily Johansen, professor of English. “He is devoted to our students, genuinely makes our university community stronger, and enhances our mission of training students who will have a transformative impact on our society and the world.”
The Montague-CTE Scholars Award was established in 1991 through a generous gift from Ken and Judy Montague. Named in honor of Kenneth Montague ’37, a distinguished former student, storied figure in the Texas oil industry, and devoted trustee of the Texas A&M Foundation, the award honors his legacy as a life-long learner. Today, that legacy lives on through his son, Jim, and wife, Vicki, who honor faculty members dedicated to inspiring the next generation of “Ken Montagues.”
View the full list of recipients.