The Graduate School has announced the 2019 winners of its professional and student awards. Generously underwritten by the University Co-op, the awards recognize excellence in graduate academics, teaching and professional services.
The winners represent a diverse community of students, scholars, teachers and administrators at the university. This year’s recipients will be honored at an awards banquet held April 30, 2019.
“The winners are a testament to the quality of teaching, research and support in graduate education that transpires on the Forty Acres,” said Mark J. T. Smith, senior vice provost for academic affairs and dean of the Graduate School. “Each winner has done something extraordinary—the winners have conducted groundbreaking research and inspired others to discover their potential and enabled them to succeed.”
Candidates for the awards are nominated by individuals across campus, and winners are determined by selection committees composed of faculty and staff members and students.
STUDENT AWARDS
Outstanding Dissertation Awards
The Outstanding Dissertation Awards were established in 1979 to recognize exceptional work and to encourage the highest levels of scholarship, research and writing. Each year, three awards are given. Of these, one is selected for the Michael H. Granof Award, the university’s top dissertation and graduate student award. The Outstanding Dissertation Award-winners receive $5,000, the Granof Award-winner $6,000.
Lisa Piccirillo
Michael H. Granof Award winner for top dissertation
Knot Traces and the Slice Genus
Department of Mathematics
College of Natural Sciences
Supervisor: Professor John Luecke
Ahmad Agbaria, Ph.D.
The Return of the Turath: The Arab Rationalist Association 1959-2000
Department of History
College of Liberal Arts
Supervisor: Associate Professor Yoav Di-Capua
Yang Hou, Ph.D.
Concordance and Discordance in Parents and Adolescents Perceptions of Parenting: A Meta-Analytic Study
Department of Human Development & Family Sciences
College of Natural Sciences
Supervisor: Professor Su Yeong Kim
Outstanding Master's Thesis/Report Award
The Outstanding Master’s Thesis/Report Award was established in 2003 to recognize exceptional work by master’s students and to encourage the highest levels of scholarship, research and writing. The winner receives $2,000.
Rebecca Morelo Jackson
Creative Negotiations on Treacherous Terrain: The Strategies and Struggles of Latina Directors and Producers
Department of Radio-Television-Film
Moody College of Communication
Supervisors: Associate Professor Mary Beltrán and Professor Joseph Straubhaar
Outstanding Graduate Student Academic Employee Award
The William S. Livingston Outstanding Graduate Student Academic Employee Awards honor outstanding performance by graduate student academic employees. The winners receive $2,000.
John Clegg, teaching assistant
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Cockrell School of Engineering
Adena Rivera-Dundas, Assistant Instructor
Department of English
College of Liberal Arts
PROFESSIONAL AWARDS
Outstanding Graduate Coordinator
Graduate coordinators are instrumental to the success of graduate students enrolled at the university. The Outstanding Graduate Coordinator Award recognizes the exemplary service of one coordinator each year. The winner receives $3,000.
Aida Gonzalez
Department of Communication Studies
Moody College of Communication
Outstanding Graduate Teacher
The Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award recognizes one faculty member for distinguished graduate teaching—including demonstrated excellence in the classroom or laboratory, mentorship of students and service to students’ thesis and dissertation committees. The winner receives $3,000.
Aprile Benner, Ph.D.
Department of Human Development & Family Sciences
College of Natural Sciences
Outstanding Graduate Adviser
Graduate advisers provide invaluable services to the university and its community of students, faculty and staff members. The Outstanding Graduate Adviser Award recognizes the exemplary service of one adviser each year. The winner receives $3,000.
Sharon Jarvis, Ph.D.
Department of Communication Studies
Moody College of Communication
Outstanding Alumni Award
The Outstanding Alumni Award recognizes outstanding academic or nonacademic achievements of Graduate School alumni. As a part of the recognition, a $5,000 fellowship is awarded in the winner’s name to a graduate student in the department in which he or she studied.
Kenneth Ramos, M.D., Ph.D., Pharm.B.
Director, Institute of Biosciences and Technology
Assistant vice chancellor
Texas A&M University System
College of Pharmacy, Ph.D., '83