Sarah Jane Brubaker, Ph.D., professor of criminal justice and director of the Certificate in Gender Violence Intervention at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, has received the 2026 VCU Distinguished Teaching Award.
Presented as part of VCU’s annual Distinguished Faculty Awards, the honor recognizes exceptional achievement in teaching. Brubaker and the university’s six other 2026 honorees will be recognized at the VCU Faculty Recognition Gala on Oct. 27 at the Jefferson Hotel.
“My teaching is grounded not only in the transmission of knowledge, but in the development of scholars who are prepared to engage complex problems with clarity, purpose and care"
“Dr. Sarah Jane Brubaker is an exceptional educator whose influence extends far beyond the classroom,” said Robyn Diehl McDougle, Ph.D., interim dean of the Wilder School. “For more than 25 years, her rigorous, student-centered teaching and steadfast commitment to mentorship have shaped generations of scholars and public-service professionals. The Wilder School is proud to celebrate her remarkable contributions and VCU’s well-deserved recognition of her with the Distinguished Teaching Award.”
Brubaker’s philosophy begins with recognizing what each student brings to the classroom.
“My teaching philosophy is grounded in the belief that students learn through active engagement, and that each student enters the classroom with a range of experiences, perspectives, interests, needs, goals and learning styles that must be respected and valued,” Brubaker said.
That philosophy has shaped her teaching at every level, from undergraduate courses in criminal justice to doctoral seminars in public policy and administration. Students consistently cite her ability to make challenging material accessible, foster thoughtful discussion and provide the structure and feedback they need to produce their strongest work.
Her PPAD 780 Synthesizing Seminar has become a particularly important part of the Wilder School’s doctoral curriculum. Brubaker designed the course to guide students through developing research questions, applying theoretical frameworks and constructing rigorous research designs. Major assignments are divided into smaller stages, allowing students to refine their thinking and incorporate substantive feedback as their work develops.
“This is the best class I have taken in the Ph.D. program,” one student wrote in a course evaluation. “It has helped me think through my research topic in new ways. The constructive feedback I received shaped my thinking and helped me better understand theoretical and conceptual frameworks.”
Brubaker’s influence extends well beyond any individual course. She has mentored 34 doctoral candidates, chairing 18 dissertation committees and serving on 16 others. Those relationships have frequently developed into scholarly collaborations, resulting in 14 peer-reviewed articles or book chapters co-authored with students and numerous conference presentations.
Her students have also earned major university distinctions, including the VCU Graduate School Distinguished Dissertation Award and the VCU Graduate School Dissertation Scholarship.
Brubaker’s commitment to applied and interdisciplinary education is reflected in the Certificate in Gender Violence Intervention, which she founded in 2003 and continues to direct. The program connects scholarship with policy and practice and has prepared more than 100 professionals to respond to gender violence in professional and community settings.
Her courses and initiatives similarly connect academic inquiry with issues affecting communities. Brubaker helped develop “Race and Racism in Government and Public Affairs,” a schoolwide course examining the role of public institutions in shaping inequities, and created “Intimate Partner Violence Policy and Practice.”
Through “Disrupting Criminalization in Education,” she also connected students with community-based work addressing the school-to-prison pipeline and reinforced the relationship between academic inquiry and lived experience. She is now developing an experiential criminal justice course with RISE for Youth in which students will support policy campaigns intended to improve outcomes for justice-involved young people.
Her commitment to mentorship has earned recognition from students and peers alike. Brubaker received the 2024 Wilder School Mentorship Award, the school’s only student-initiated award, and the Kathleen S. Lowney Mentoring Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems.
For Brubaker, the development of students remains the essential purpose of teaching.
“In all of my teaching, I strive to understand the needs and experiences of my students, engage them fully in the learning process and continually adapt and evolve as an educator,” she said. “My teaching is grounded not only in the transmission of knowledge, but in the development of scholars who are prepared to engage complex problems with clarity, purpose and care.”