Great Teaching: Lauren Zepp

Written by Abigail Dotzler | Photos by Craig Schreiner

Lauren Zepp, professor of special education at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, knows that care and compassion make all the difference in the classroom.

Through her efforts in courses like the Science of Reading and the partnership between the special education program and the LIFE (Learning Is For Everyone) program, Zepp provides a living example for the teachers she’s preparing.

“I genuinely enjoy building relationships with the students at UW-Whitewater and [building] those relationships for the foundation of responsive teaching and learning,” Zepp said.

To better serve her students, she designs her courses with accessibility in mind. Through image descriptions, text-to-speech resources, virtual textbooks, live captioning and flexible assignment options, she ensures that all of her students are able to get the most out of their experience with the special education program — regardless of their learning needs.

She also regularly collects feedback from her students so she can continuously improve her courses and meet her students’ needs and expectations.

After earning her Ph.D. in special education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2022, Zepp came to UW-Whitewater and has spent the last four years preparing the next generation of special education teachers.

“UW-Whitewater drew me in because of its genuine commitment to access and inclusion for disabled students because these values align deeply with my own,” said Zepp. “The university's reputation for serving students with disabilities — exemplified by programs like LIFE — made it feel like the right place to do the kind of practice-grounded, community-connected work I care most about. What keeps me here is the people and the possibilities.”

As a first-generation college student, Zepp possesses the unique knowledge and experience to support her students and make them feel welcome and seen.

Zepp’s students appreciate the support she offers to prepare them for assessments — like the Foundations of Reading Exam — and the caring, professional mentorship she provides.

“Dr. Zepp is by far the most caring and personable professor there is,” said Lydia Wiesman, a recent graduate of the special education program who’s currently pursuing an MSE in reading instruction and dyslexia intervention at UW-Whitewater. “She’s just always there for her students, whether that be academically or personally in a professional manner.”

In recognition of her teaching and scholarly work, she earned a spot in the Wisconsin Teaching Fellows & Scholars Program in 2025-26 after claiming UW-Whitewater’s Audrey Z. McClellan Endowed Teacher of Distinction award in 2025.

“Preparing teachers to support disabled students is incredibly rewarding and joyful work, but it is also high stakes,” said Zepp. “The students I teach will go on to deliver reading instruction to the students who need strong teachers the most, so the ripple effects of my work are always present in my mind.”

Zepp began her career in higher education because she knew teaching at the university-level would allow her to maximize her impact on students in special education. By preparing future educators, she can directly affect the lives of thousands of students around the globe — not only her students at UW-Whitewater.

Zepp said, “Every teacher I help train will go on to serve hundreds of disabled students over the course of their career. That realization was both humbling and energizing.”

Zepp’s students at UW-Whitewater can immediately apply what they’ve learned in her classroom by working with the university’s LIFE program. Using the concepts they’ve mastered in Zepp’s Science of Reading courses, these students — preservice teachers — deliver structured literacy interventions to students and make a real, noticeable impact in the lives of their fellow Warhawks.

“Most [preservice teachers] have never taught reading or worked directly with people who have an intellectual disability, and the stakes feel real to them. But something shifts when they sit down with their students, work through a structured literacy lesson, and see that student make progress,” Zepp said.

“That kind of transformation — from doubt to confidence, from theory to practice — is what I work toward every semester so that teacher candidates leave feeling prepared and empowered to make a difference in the lives of their future students.”

The true measure of success, according to Zepp, is the knowledge that your effort is making a difference.

She advises students to pursue work that allows them to improve the lives of others. Even when that work is demanding, Zepp asks all students — especially future educators — to fully commit to their callings and to use the skills and knowledge they’re learning at UW-Whitewater.

“The students you will serve are counting on you to do exactly that.”