Congratulations!

A recap of the selections from this year's Commencement awards and recognitions.

Horace Mann Medal Awarded to Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering

Dr. Lackey sitting by a stone pillar with bare trees in the background; she is wearing a grey suit jacket and blue shirt.

Jennifer Lackey ‘00 Ph.D. is the 2023 recipient of the Horace Mann Medal. Lackey received her Ph.D. in Philosophy and is currently the Wayne and Elizabeth Jones Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Law (courtesy) at Northwestern University. She is also the Founding Director of the Northwestern Prison Education Program, a partnership between Northwestern University and the Illinois Department of Corrections, and the only bachelor’s degree-granting program for incarcerated students offered by a top 10 university in the United States. Read more.

Faculty Award for Advising and Mentoring

This award recognizes a faculty member who has made a significant contribution as an advisor or mentor to graduate students.

Advising and Mentoring Award Presented to Patrick Heller

Patrick Heller is the Lyn Crost Professor of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology and International Affairs. His nominators emphasize his genuine interest in their studies, his intense care and support for them as academics and people, and his patience and support as they work through ideas, projects, and navigate academic challenges. Read more.

Kevin Quashie Honored with Advising and Mentoring Award

Professor of English, Kevin Quashie, was nominated by a group of students who are among the many he formally and informally advises. Each nominator provides a detailed account of Quashie’s mentorship, sharing how they felt supported and encouraged both academically, and as unique individuals. Read more.

Jessica Plavicki Recognized for Advising and Mentoring

As a mentor, Jessica Plavicki has contributed to the academic and career development of early career scientists from high school to the postdoctoral level. She holds two titles at Brown, Manning Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Director of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Summer Internship Program. Read more.

Jerome Robinson Selected for Advising and Mentoring Award

Jerome Robinson wearing a blue suit jacket and white shirt and patterned tie sitting in front of a colorful bookshelf

Manning Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Jerome Robinson, was nominated as a tireless advocate for graduate students, both within his department and the greater STEM community at Brown. Robinson has served as research advisor to 12 graduate students and also advises first-year students, helping them to navigate courses, new cultures, and selecting a research advisor. Read more.

Remembering a trailblazing Brown scholar

Elisabeth and Claire Simmons and their father Michael Simmons (right) tour campus with Alycia Mosley Austin, associate dean of diversity and inclusion at the Graduate School, who helped organize their visit. Photo by Nick Dentamaro, Brown University.

Michael Simmons, along with his daughters, Claire and Elisabeth, journeyed from San Francisco to Providence where they were presented with a plaque during the Doctoral Ceremony in honor of Simmons' mother, Mae Belle Williamson Simmons, the earliest known Black woman to earn her doctoral degree from Brown. The 1962 psychology Ph.D. graduate was a trailblazing Providence native whose lasting impact as a researcher in the field of child psychology.

Read more in a story written by the Brown University News and Editorial Development team.

Excellence in Teaching Awards

This award recognizes outstanding pedagogical achievement by a graduate student in any discipline.

Olivia Lafferty Recognized for Teaching Excellence

Olivia Lafferty was selected for an Excellence in Teaching Award for her ability to share thoughtful feedback, create community, and encourage active student engagement. As a fifth-year doctoral student, Olivia Lafferty has TA’ed a variety of English courses, both in person and online. Read more.

Teaching Excellence Award Granted to Kristen Iemma

Doctoral candidate kristen iemma received an Excellence in Teaching Award that acknowledges her course, Archival Interventions, where students created the Brown Undergraduate Covid-19 Archives during the height of the pandemic. Read more.

Kristin Kimble Selected for Teaching Excellence Award

Kristin Kimble is honored with an Excellence in Teaching Award for her outstanding dedication, enthusiasm, and reliability in her work with curriculum design and teaching. Nominators share a long list of teaching and mentoring experiences for Kimble, a fourth-year PhD Candidate in the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (DEEPS). Read more.

Image of kristen iemma sitting in a chair, with plant leaves beside her; she is wearing a black shirt and pants.

Haley Keglovits Honored with Teaching Award

Haley Keglovits is recognized with an Excellence in Teaching Award for being an encouraging, supportive mentor who is generous with her time. She is a fourth-year student in the Cognitive Science doctoral program where she has taught courses at a variety of sizes and levels. Read more.

Kristin Kimble in a black shirt standing in front of green trees.

Joukowsky Outstanding Dissertation Awards

This prize recognizes the superior research achievements of doctoral students.

Dennis Hogan in a green sweater vest and blue shirt, smiling with trees in the background

Dennis Hogan '22 PhD Selected for Joukowsky Dissertation Prize
Dennis Hogan, who completed his degree in Comparative Literature in September of 2022, is recognized for his dissertation, The Queen of Two Worlds: Crisis and Creation in the Central American Transit Zones, 1848-1914. He was selected for the Joukowsky Prize in the humanities. Read more.

Anant Hariharan smiling in a green t-shirt with a snow dotted mountain and lake in the background

Joukowsky Prize in the Physical Sciences Awarded to Anant Hariharan
Anant Hariharan was selected for his impacts to the fields of seismology, tectonics, and geodynamics through his dissertation, Understanding Overtone Interference in Surface Wave Measurements: Application to Anisotropic Imaging of the Uppermost Mantle Beneath North America. Read more.

Kiara Lee Awarded Joukowsky Dissertation Prize for Life Sciences
Kiara Lee graduated with a doctoral degree in Biomedical Engineering and a master’s degree in Global Public health, which she earned through the Open Graduate Education Program. Her dissertation, Leveraging Biotransport Mechanisms in the Design of Technologies to Improve Access to Blood-Based Diagnostics, was selected for the Joukowsky Prize in the life sciences. Read more.

Suvaid Yaseen is a Joukowsky Prize Recipient for His Dissertation on Twentieth-Century Kashmir
His dissertation, Islamic Intersections: Religion and Politics in Kashmir in the Long Twentieth-Century, focuses on the previously unexamined lives and thoughts of poets, educators, ulema (Muslim scholars), activists, rebels, and revolutionaries in Kashmir. Yaseen is the Joukowsky Prize winner for the social sciences. Read more.

Master's Awards

Three awards are given for academic accomplishment, professional excellence, and engaged citizenship and service to the community.

Ilayda Top in Brown regalia with a red sash in front of a brick building

Biotechnology master’s student, Ilayda Top recognized for outstanding academic accomplishment

A well-rounded, service-oriented scholar, Top was honored for her research to advance therapeutic options for patients experiencing brain ischemia. Read more.

Dr. Jonathan R. Everhart honored with the Master’s Award for Professional Excellence

Everhart is a lifelong learner who has achieved significant accomplishments in the fields of finance and sustainable digital economies. Read more.

Dr. Everhard in a blue suit with a white shirt in front of an abstract background

Wilfredo Giordano-Perez in a black and white image with a grey shirt and white background.

Wilfredo Giordano-Perez selected for the Master’s Award for Engaged Citizenship and Community Service

From homelessness to healing, Giordano-Perez is a three-time Brown University degree holder honored for his commitment to improving the lives of others. Read more.

GSC Honors Andrew Heald and Kerry Sabbag for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate Students

Recognized for strengthening the international graduate student community and working tirelessly to bring positivity, clarity, and enthusiasm to the graduate community, Andrew Heald and Kerry Sabbag are winners of this year's Bates-Clapp and Wilson-DeBlois awards (respectively) from the Graduate Student Council. Read more.

Kerry Sabbag, Department Manager of Slavic Studies, has made an indelible mark on the workings of the Slavic Studies Department. Her contributions have been fundamental in enhancing the graduate student community and the opportunities for graduate students.

As the Director of the Global Brown Center, Andrew Heald has helped international students at Brown succeed. He has developed and implemented a variety of community-building programs that foster a sense of belonging and ensure that international students have a positive experience.

Recipients of the 2023 Graduate Student Contribution to Community Life Award

This Award is given by the Division of Campus Life and recognizes a select group of graduating doctoral and master’s students who have contributed in a very significant way to the sense of community at Brown. Read more.