Awards, Honors, and Professorships

Honorary Awards

Publication Awards

Chair and Professorship Appointments

Other Awards

Honorary Awards

Nancy Alarcon, clinic director and senior lecturer in the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, is the recipient of a 2015 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Media Outreach Champion Award, recognizing her efforts to raise public awareness in Seattle about excessive stadium noise.  Alarcon was featured in NPR's national health blog, Shots, and has served as a media resource with Seattle television and radio outlets.

Patrick Bajari, professor of economics, has been elected to the Society of Fellows of the Econometric Society, joining an elite group of economic researchers from around the world in what is widely considered the most significant society in economic science.

W. Lance Bennett, professor of political science, Ruddick C. Lawrence Professor of Communication, and director of the Center for Communication and Civic Engagement, received the Humboldt Research Award of the Alexander Humboldt Foundation in recognition of his lifetime achievements in research. Humboldt Research Award winners are invited to cooperate on a long-term research project with specialist colleagues at a research institution in Germany.   Bennett will utilize this research award to develop a project tracking the global flows of new ideas about how to better harmonize the economy and the environment.

Michael Biggins, affiliate professor of Slavic languages and literature and Slavic librarian, has received the Society of Slovene Literary Translators’ annual Janko Lavrin Prize, awarded each year for lifetime distinguished contributions to furthering Slovene literature abroad.  Biggins is the translator of more than 15 major, book-length works of 20th- and 21st-century Slovene literature.

Chris Bretherton, professor of applied mathematics and atmospheric sciences, has been elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union for “exceptional scientific contributions and attained acknowledged eminence in the fields of Earth and space sciences.”

Jennifer Butte-Dahl, affiliate faculty in the Jackson School of International Studies and director of the Applied International Studies master's program, is a 2015 Truman Security Fellow, awarded by the Truman National Security Project in recognition of achievements in the field of international affairs and commitment to advancing internationalist policy.

Jim Caporaso, professor of political science, received a Jean Monnet Chair from the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union.  This highly competitive award recognizes Professor Caporaso’s lifetime of scholarship on European politics and political economy. 

Tanya L. Eadie, professor of speech and hearing sciences and adjunct professor of otolaryngology - head & neck surgery, was named Fellow by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, in recognition of her significant contributions to research and publications, teaching, and service to the profession. 

Corey Fagan, principal lecturer in the Department of Psychology and director of the UW Psychology Services and Training Center (The Clinic), along with other collaborators including Jon Hauser, Psychology’s senior computer specialist & media lab director, received the first Clinic Innovation Award from the Association of Psychology Training Clinics for developing a premier routine monitoring system called OwlOutcomes. 

Karen Goldberg, Nicole A. Boand Endowed Professor of Chemistry, will receive the 2016 Award in Organometallic Chemistry from the American Chemical Society, recognizing her “major impact on research in organometallic chemistry, with special consideration for demonstrated creativity and independence of thought.”

Anthony G. Greenwald, professor of psychology, received the 2016 Kurt Lewin Award from the Society for Psychological Study of Social Issues for his distinguished research on social issues.

James Gregory, professor of history, has received the Barclay Simpson Prize for Scholarship in Public from the UW Simpson Center for the Humanities, for his work on the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project. Gregory also received the Outstanding Volunteer Service Award from the UW Libraries, which recognizes a community volunteer who has had a significant impact on the Libraries.

Peter Guttorp, professor of statistics, has been elected a Fellow of the Institute for Mathematical Statistics.

Marsha Linehan, professor of psychology and director of the Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics received the 2015 National Alliance on Mental Illness Scientific Research Award, which honors excellence in research for mental illness. She also received the 2015 President’s Award at the Silver Hill Hospital 6^th Annual Fall Gala in New York City.

Kathleen O’Connor, professor of anthropology, has been elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “for her contributions at the interface of anthropology, demography and endocrinology, particularly in the areas of hormones and behavior and reproduction across the life span.”

Jessica Sullivan, assistant professor of speech and hearing sciences, was awarded the American Auditory Society Young Investigator research lecture, a prestigious honor for which she was selected by her peers.

Akio Takamori, professor emeritus in the School of Art + Art History + Design, received an 'Arts & Innovation' 2015 Mayor's Art Award, granted by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. This award celebrates Takamori's long career as a ceramicist, his contribution as an artist to the City of Seattle, and the excellence of his work.

Janelle Taylor, professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, received the Medical Anthropology Students' Association's Graduate Mentor Award from the Society of Medical Anthropology. The award recognizes excellence in graduate student mentorship, and is aimed at senior or mid-career scholars who have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to teaching and mentorship throughout their careers.

Quintard Taylor, Scott and Dorothy Bullitt Professor of American History, continues to rack up honors for creating BlackPast.org, an extensive online reference center for African American history and African ancestry. Most recently, the website won the National Education Association’s 2015 Carter G. Woodson Award, given annually by the NEA and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.

Robin K. Wright, professor of art history in the School of Art + Art History + Design, and curator of Native American Art at the Burke Museum, is a winner of the 'Cultural Ambassador' 2015 Mayor's Art Award, granted by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. Wright is an expert on Native arts in the Pacific Northwest.

Publication Awards

Dima Drusvyatskiy, the Department of Mathematics’ newest assistant professor, has been recognized by The Mathematical Optimization Society as a finalist for the A.W. Tucker Prize, for his 2013 thesis, Slope and Geometry in Variational Mathematics. “Built on rich imagination and creativity, this dissertation makes an inspiring set of fundamental and far reaching conclusions in the area of nonsmooth optimization,” notes the Society.

Suhanthie Motha, associate professor of English, won the 2015 Critics' Choice Book Award from the American Educational Studies Association for her book Race, Empire, and English Language Teaching: Creating Responsible and Ethical Anti-Racist Practice, which shows how language is used to create hierarchies of cultural privilege in public schools across the United States, drawing on the work of four ESL teachers who developed antiracist pedagogical practices during their first year of teaching.

Chair and Professorship Appointments

Jordanna Bailkin, professor of history, has received the Jere L. Bacharach Professorship in International Studies, for a five-year term.

Ruby Blondell, professor of classics, has received the Byron W. and Alice L. Lockwood Professorship in the Humanities, for a three-year term.

Douglas R. Cleveland, artist in residence in the School of Music, has received the John Delo Faculty Fellowship in Organ, for a three-year term.    

Kyle D. Crowder, professor of sociology, has received the Blumstein-Jordan Endowed Professorship in Sociology, for a five-year term.      

Galya Diment, professor of Slavic languages and literatures, has received the Joff Hanauer Distinguished Professorship in Western Civilization, for a three-year term.       

Carina Fourie, assistant professor of philosophy, has received the Benjamin Rabinowitz Philosophy Chair in Medical Ethics, for a three-year term.

Estelle C. Lingo, associate professor of art, has received a Donald E. Petersen Endowed Faculty Fellowship, for a three-year term.

Devin Naar, assistant professor of international studies, has received the Isaac Alhadeff Professorship in Sephardic Studies, for a three-year term.

Anat Mooreville, visiting lecturer in the Jackson School of International Studies, has received the Hazel D. Cole Endowed Fellowship in Jewish Studies, for a one-year term.

Linda L. Nash, associate professor of history, has received the John Calhoun Smith Memorial Endowed Professorship, for a three-year term.

Juan C. Pampin, associate professor and director of DXARTS, has received the Ruth Sutton Waters Endowed Professorship in Music, for a three-year term.

Jeffrey A. Riffell, assistant professor of biology, has received the Endowed Professorship for Excellence in Biology, for a five-year term.

William J. Rorabaugh, professor of history, has received the Dio Richardson Endowed Professorship in History, for a two-year term.

Benjamin Schmidt, professor of history, has received the Giovanni and Amne Costigan Endowed Professorship in History, for a three-year term.

Eric Shea-Brown, associate professor of applied mathematics, has received the Boeing Endowed Professorship in Applied Mathematics, for a three-year term.                     

Charity L. Urbanski, lecturer in history, has received a Joff Hanauer Endowed Faculty Fellowship in History, for a three-year term.             

Giselle E. Wyers, associate professor of music, has received the Donald E. Petersen Endowed Professorship in the School of Music, for a three-year term.

Xiaodong Xu, assistant professor of physics, has received the Boeing Distinguished Professorship in Physics, for a three-year term.

Glennys J. Young, professor of history, has received the Jon Bridgman Endowed Professorship in History, for a three-year term.

Other Awards

Christoph Giebel, associate professor of international studies, received the Academic Freedom Award from the American Association of University Professors – UW chapter for work in the Faculty Senate and its councils and committees to enhance the codified protection of academic freedom at the UW.

Katie McLaughlin, assistant professor of psychology and director of the Stress and Development Lab, has received One Mind Institute's AIM 2015 Rising Star Research Award, which provides three years of support for her research on neurobiological disorders. McLaughlin has also received a Jacobs Foundation Early Career Research Fellowship 2016-2018.

Matthew Sparke, professor of international studies and geography and director of Integrated Social Sciences, has been named a Brocher Foundation researcher and will spend autumn quarter 2016 in Switzerland as part of a residency that brings together researchers from various cultural and scientific backgrounds to create research synergies and facilitate scientific cooperation.

Elizabeth Thompson, professor of statistics, is president-elect of the International Biometric Society. Thompson has also been awarded a Carnegie Professorship in St. Andrews.

Jon Wellner, professor of statistics and biostatistics, is president-elect of the Institute for Mathematical Statistics.