Composition and Literary Studies
Amy Ashton Cunningham is a professor in the Composition and Literary Studies (CLS) Department at Austin Communtiy Colleges (ACC), where she teaches in all modalities. She has served as a facilitator for the Teaching and Learning Academy and other TLED (Teaching, Learning and Excellence Division) programs, and she is currently serving as a facilitator for LEAD. Overall, Amy is driven by the belief that education is a core foundation to social justice and creating a better world for all and hopes to develop that work through her participation in the Character Education Initiative.
How has your community college teaching experience shaped your character over your career?
In my first years of teaching, I thought my own educational experience was unique, defined by a few twists and turns along the way that I was able to surmount with what I perceived to be exceptional tenacity. The students I have taught in my years at ACC have taught me many things too; one important lesson I have learned is humility. Some of my students come in with brilliance, some with self doubt and desperation. I have taught students who come from the night shift and apologize when they arrive, disheveled and late, but ready to learn, because they have yet to sleep after work. I teach students who have expensive tutors and early acceptance to the best universities, yet who are wracked with anxiety that they’ll never live up to the expectations put upon them. But all of my students are using community college as a way to improve their lives through education and it is my job to help them do that. The sacrifices my students make to be in a college classroom, from wherever they may come, humble me. Community college has inspired me to work in the service of social justice and ACC, in particular, has put me in community with others who have the same vision for what can be.