UW School of Graduate Education and Graduate Council Select Award Recipients

The University of Wyoming’s School of Graduate Education and Graduate Council have selected the 2025 winners of graduate student and mentor awards for outstanding teaching and research.

The John P. Ellbogen Outstanding Graduate Assistant Teaching Awards go to graduate teaching assistants to honor their excellence in teaching. The Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award recognizes a graduate student for an exemplary master’s thesis. The Outstanding Dissertation Award is granted to a graduate student for an exemplary doctoral dissertation.

The Early Career Graduate Faculty Mentor Award and the Mid-Career Graduate Faculty Mentor Award are presented to faculty members for their commitment to mentoring graduate students. The Early-Career Graduate Faculty Mentor Award is presented to a faculty member with less than six years of academic career at UW. The Mid-Career Graduate Faculty Mentor Award is given to a faculty member with six to 10 years of academic career experience at UW.

The 2025 award winners are:

John P. Ellbogen Outstanding Graduate Assistant Teaching Award

Spencer Holtz, Austin, Texas, Program in Ecology and Evolution (botany).

Robert Kaya, Manoa, Hawai’i, Department of Psychology.

Makayla Kocher, Monument, Colo., Department of English.

Fox Nelson, Cheyenne, Department of Anthropology.

Outstanding Master’s Thesis

David Riedel, Pittsburgh, Pa., Department of English, “The Riedel Chronicles: Adventures in an Anomalous Archive” (podcast).

Outstanding Dissertation

Jeff Baldock, Bozeman, Mont., Program in Ecology and Evolution, “Biocomplexity of Yellowstone cutthroat trout: from individuals to metapopulations.”

Early Career Graduate Faculty Mentor Award

Lavinia Salama, School of Pharmacy clinical assistant professor.

Mid-Career Graduate Faculty Mentor Award

Nancy Small, Department of English associate professor.