Shearrer Receives UW’s Laramigo Award for Community Engagement

Colleagues praise Grace Shearrer, an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences in the University of Wyoming’s College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources, for her innovative research, commitment to mentorship, service to the Laramie community and overall excellence in the classroom.

That high praise has earned her UW’s Laramigo Award for Community Engagement. The award recognizes the contributions of UW faculty and staff members to the university and Laramie communities. The award, created by anonymous donors in 2022, offers a stipend to a UW employee and a Laramie-based nonprofit organization of the recipient’s choice. Shearrer will share the award with Laramie Head Start.

“Dr. Shearrer’s dedication to connecting academic work with meaningful contributions to the Laramie community and the state of Wyoming makes her an outstanding candidate for this recognition,” says Kelly Crane, dean of the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences and Natural Resources.

Shearrer joined the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences as an assistant professor in 2021 and has rapidly established a highly productive and collaborative research program in human nutrition and food/dietetics. This has not only resulted in impactful publications and significant grant funding -- over $500,000 as a primary investigator and $6 million as a co-investigator -- but also has built vital connections across campus and within the broader Laramie community.

Notably, her American Diabetes Association-funded project, which includes a mobile health lab, directly enhances health research accessibility in rural Wyoming. Additionally, she collaborates with UW Extension on projects that support parental practices for adolescent nutrition and mental health initiatives, further amplifying her service impact statewide.

“I cannot think of a more deserving candidate for the Laramigo Award for Community Engagement than Dr. Shearrer,” says Jill Fabricius Keith, UW Department of Family and Consumer Sciences chair, listing Shearrer’s work on campus, locally and throughout the state.

Shearrer’s other research collaborations also highlight her service to state stakeholders and Laramie community members. She leads the “Parents and Toddlers Health (PATH)” study in collaboration with UW Extension’s Cent$ible Nutrition Program. She also works with UW Extension partners through a multistate project, “Parental practices supporting positive eating behaviors in adolescents” and “Western Regional Mental Health and Nutrition Network.”

Shearrer has been an exceptional partner to Laramie’s Head Start program for the past two years, demonstrating a commitment to early childhood education and family support services. Specifically, through her “Lifecycle Nutrition 1: Childhood to Adolescence” class, she and her students perform height and weight measurements for all of the children attending Head Start’s preschool.

“Dr. Shearrer approaches her work in an equitable fashion and a deep respect for the dignity of each child and family we serve. Her work with students and Head Start of Laramie represents a genuine commitment to serving her local community,” says Jana O’Brien, Laramie Head Start’s health and safety coordinator. “This is seen in the real-world experiences she is providing for her students modeling a role in systemic change in community growth.”

Shearrer’s connections with UW, community organizations in Laramie and across the state, along with Wyoming community colleges, support ongoing and future research opportunities. Her willingness to engage in collaborative work in crucial nutrition research highlights her commitment to the mission of the college and UW as a land-grant institution.

Shearrer received her Ph.D. in nutritional sciences from the University of Texas-Austin in 2016 and a B.S. in family and consumer sciences from UW in 2012.