Graduate School of Arts & Sciences recognizes outstanding teaching assistants

18 receive Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence

Teaching assistants are highly valued members of the Washington University instructional team, whether assisting faculty in the preparation, instruction and grading of an undergraduate course; tutoring undergraduates; or monitoring a laboratory in an undergraduate course.

Each spring, the dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences recognizes outstanding teaching assistants who have been nominated by a department or a program.

This year, 18 graduate students received 15 Dean’s Awards for Teaching Excellence. A ceremony was held April 19 in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge.

Richard J. Smith, PhD, dean of the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences and the Ralph E. Morrow Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, presented each award recipient with a certificate of recognition and a $1,500 cash prize.

Below is a list of the award recipients, the departments or programs that nominated them if available, and their area of study:

  • Clarissa Cagnato, Steven Goldstein, Lynne Rouse in anthropology;
  • Emily Cohen-Shikora, psychology;
  • Sara Jay, nominated by International & Area Studies, degree program is history;
  • Manelle Andia Augustin, Romance languages and literatures;
  • Cailin Copan-Kelly, nominated by Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, degree program is English;
  • Matthew Fluharty, English;
  • Sarah Hillenbrand, Germanic languages and literatures;
  • Nicholas Holtgrewe, chemistry;
  • Lisa Lillie, history;
  • Chun-Yu Lu, nominated by East Asian Languages and Cultures, degree program is comparative literature;
  • Sarah McGavran, art history;
  • Christopher Orth, earth and planetary sciences;
  • Joshua D. Potter, political science;
  • Jordan Teisher, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences;
  • Aysegul Turan, comparative literature; and
  • Corey Twitchell, nominated by Jewish, Islamic and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, degree program is German.