Two Faculty Named 2025 Outstanding Educators
Miki Huntington, political science faculty, and Jonathan “Doc” Lofgren, Addiction Counseling faculty, were named 2025 Outstanding Educators by the Minnesota State Board of Trustees.
These awards are conferred annually to college and university teaching faculty and university administrative service faculty to acknowledge and provide systemwide recognition for consistently superior commitment to student learning and to encourage the ongoing pursuit of excellence at the colleges and universities of Minnesota State.
The award proclaims, on behalf of the entire Minnesota State system, the Board of Trustees’ pride in the dedication and accomplishment of its faculty who provide instruction that prepares Minnesota State college and university students for their professional, scholarly, and civic lives. Huntington and Lofgren are among 28 faculty from across the state of Minnesota receiving this prestigious Outstanding Educator Award during an April recognition event.
Miki Huntington
Huntington uses innovative teaching methods, such as micro-lectures and videos that introduce new modules, to achieve classroom success and shares her expertise as a new faculty mentor and leader of faculty development offerings. In addition to receiving the 2025 honor, she was nominated as an Outstanding Educator in 2020 and 2018.
“I am both humbled and honored to be recognized for the work I get to do on campus,” said Huntington, who embraced her passion for teaching after serving in the U.S. Army for 25 years where she enlisted, participated in ROTC, flew as a helicopter pilot, and finally a completed her career as a Foreign Service Officer. “We, as faculty, always build on our craft and strive for continued excellence. Through the work as educators, we also learn from and with our students and colleagues, and support one another in our endeavors.”
Huntington has embraced myriad roles throughout her 14 years at Minneapolis College including serving as a new faculty mentor and coach, liaison and eLearning/online pedagogy consultant for the College’s Center for Teaching and Learning, and faculty coordinator for the School of Liberal Arts and Cultures.
Taking her passion for teaching beyond the classroom, she has created and facilitated numerous professional development courses for faculty including Online Pedagogy Institute (OPI) and Humanizing Online Pedagogy for Equity (HOPE) Institute. She contributed to the development of HyFlex/Multimodal Training, Foundations of Teaching Online (FOTO), and Empathy by Designing (Humanizing) courses for the Minnesota State Network for Educational Development.
Huntington has instructed more than 100 Minneapolis College community members in Mental Health First Aid, an eight-hour national certification course designed to teach the skills to recognize the signs of a mental health or substance use disorder crisis, identify community resources, and link individuals in need of treatment and support to the proper resources. She co-founded the Minneapolis College Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program which is part of a statewide program created to connect service members, Veterans, and military families with state and federal resources and services.
Huntington was nominated for the award by Minneapolis College colleague Cheryl Neudauer who recognized how her passionate work extends far beyond the classroom.
Jonathan “Doc” Lofgren
Lofgren founded the state’s first Collegiate Recovery Program at a two-year college, brought motivational interviewing (MI) to the college’s Addiction Counseling program, and leads a MI training initiative in the College and throughout the community.
“I am honored someone was inspired by my teaching, curriculum, and how I engage students, colleagues, and the community inside and outside of the classroom,” said Lofgren who joined the College in 2006 and is receiving this award for the second time. “The way we deliver education has evolved, but when we stick with innovation and keep students at the center of everything, we can create a domino effect that goes far beyond the classroom.”
Lofgren is proud to be a person in long-term recovery, lending his name, face, and voice to show that people do not have to be bound by stigma and can reach their goals and do well. To support recovery, academic and personal success at Minneapolis College, Lofgren has been instrumental in bringing the Collegiate Recovery Program (CRP) to campus to support all students in recovery from substance use disorders and other behavioral challenges.
Minneapolis College's Collegiate Recovery Program has been named by the Association of Recovery in Higher Education (ARHE) as the 100th collegiate program related to recovery in Higher Education. Among the nation's 1,462 community colleges, Minneapolis College has the 5th ARHE-recognized program (at a 2-year institution) aimed at supporting all students in recovery through interpersonal and cross-cultural communications.
Recognizing how important collaborative, goal-oriented communication is to change, Lofgren has been instrumental in bringing Motivational Interviewing to students, faculty, and staff on campus and a vast array of helping professionals and educators in the community.
Lofgren is part of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), an international organization of trainers in motivational interviewing, which includes members who represent 40 countries and more than 30 different languages. Their central interest is to improve the quality and effectiveness of counseling and consultations with clients about behavior change. Lofgren is inspired by this work and has witnessed positive behavioral change across settings.
Lofgren was nominated for the award by students at Minneapolis College who recognized his engagement and commitment to addiction counseling and recovery.
Minnesota State includes 26 community and technical colleges and seven state universities serving approximately 270,000 students. It is the fourth-largest system of two-year colleges and four-year universities in the United States.