UW Faculty Members Win First Presidential Scholarly Achievement Awards

Fourteen high-achieving University of Wyoming faculty members have been selected as recipients of the inaugural Presidential Scholarly Achievement Awards.

The awards program was established by President Ed Seidel to recognize scholarly excellence by UW faculty members.

“These faculty members are some of the university’s very best, and we’re delighted to celebrate their achievements and success,” Seidel says. “With this first round of awards, we’ve set the stage for another important annual tradition at UW.”

The Presidential Scholarly Achievement Awards for tenured faculty at associate or full professor ranks who have demonstrated significant achievement will focus on different colleges/disciplines each year. This year, the focus is on the arts, humanities and social sciences. The winners of the honors, which include a cash award of $2,500 each, are:

-- Susan Aronstein, a professor in the Department of English.

-- Conxita Domenech, a professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages.

-- Robert Kelly, a professor in the Department of Anthropology.

-- Ben Markley, an associate professor in the Department of Music.

-- Rachel Sailor, an associate professor in the Department of Visual Arts.

Recipients of Presidential Scholarly Achievement Awards for promising early-career faculty, which include a cash award of $5,000 each, are:

College of Agriculture and Natural Resources -- Whit Stewart, an assistant professor in the Department of Animal Science.

College of Arts and Sciences -- Chelsea Escalante, an assistant professor in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages; and Michael Taylor, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry.

College of Business -- Patrick Witz, an assistant professor in the Department of Accounting and Finance.

College of Education -- Ali Bicer, an assistant professor in the School of Teacher Education.

College of Engineering and Applied Science -- Morteza Dejam, an assistant professor in the Department of Petroleum Engineering.

College of Health Sciences -- Kelly Simonton, an assistant professor in the Division of Kinesiology and Health.

College of Law -- Lauren McLane, an associate professor.

Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources -- Corrine Knapp, an assistant professor.