Published: Sept. 19, 2024

The Office of Faculty Affairs hosted CU Boulder's annual Fall Convocation and Awards Ceremony on Sep. 13, celebrating the exceptional accomplishments of 115 faculty members. Held at the Center for British & Irish Studies, this year’s event honored faculty for their excellence in teaching, scholarship, leadership and service, with special recognition given to those who recently achieved tenure or promotion and recipients of the esteemed Provost’s Achievement Award.

The ceremony was led by Provost Russell Moore and Vice Provost Michele Moses, with Moore delivering opening remarks that emphasized faculty success as the foundation of the institution's overall success.

Provost's Achievement Award recipients who are pre-tenure faculty Provost's Achievement Award recipients who are post-tenure faculty Faculty who received tenure Faculty promoted to full professor Faculty promoted to teaching professor

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Below is a list of this year’s awardees.

Provost’s Faculty Achievement Awards

Pre-tenure faculty

  • Carson Bruns (Mechanical Engineering) has been granted this award for his research on smart tattoos.
  • Sara Staley (Education) has been granted this award for her article titled "A Pretty Queer Thing: Thinking Queerly About Teachers' Gender and Sexual Diversity-Focused Professional Learning."
  • Elizabeth Swanson (Music) has been granted this award for her work conducting the Honor Chorale Ensemble at Carnegie Hall, New York City.
  • Cristina Torres-Machi (Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering) has been granted this award for her article titled "Deep Learning for Estimating Pavement Roughness Using Synthetic Aperture Radar Data."
  • Brian Waters (Business) has been granted this award for his paper titled "Investing for Impact."

Post-tenure faculty

  • Asaf Bernstein (Business) has been granted this award for his research on climate finance.
  • Andrea Dyrness (Education) has been granted this award for her book titled, Border Thinking: Latinx Youth Decolonizing Citizenship.
  • Alena Grabowski (Integrative Physiology) has been granted this award for her research on the use of running prostheses and their impact on international athletics.
  • Bri-Mathias Hodge (Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering) has been granted this award for his contributions to renewables forecasting and applications of forecasting to power system planning and operations.
  • Nicolò Spera (Music) has been granted this award for his music projects combining guitar and choir.

Faculty receiving tenure

  • Aun H. Ali, Religious Studies
  • Rachael R. Baiduc, Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences
  • Kyri A. Baker, Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering
  • Stephanie M. Bonjack, University Libraries
  • Cassandra Brooks, Environmental Studies
  • Eleanor C. Browne, Chemistry
  • Laura Dee, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
  • Rafael M. Frongillo, Computer Science
  • Andrew Garland, Music
  • Kathryn E. Goldfarb, Anthropology
  • Joshua A. Grochow, Computer Science
  • Oded Gurantz, Education
  • Bradley Hayes, Computer Science
  • Allison Hayman, Aerospace Engineering Sciences
  • Paul O. Hayne, Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences
  • Yu-Jui Huang, Applied Mathematics
  • Kathia Salomé Ibacache, University Libraries
  • Sebastian Kopf, Geological Sciences
  • Sarah Kurnick, Anthropology
  • Michael D. Litos, Physics
  • Andrew Lucas, Physics
  • Sanghamitra Neogi, Aerospace Engineering Sciences
  • Marco M. Nicotra, Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering
  • Sergey Nigai, Economics
  • Alexis Palmer, Linguistics
  • Srinivas C. Parinandi, Political Science
  • Sandra Ristovska, Media Studies
  • Michael Saddoris, Psychology & Neuroscience
  • Jota Samper, Environmental Design
  • Sebastian K. Schmidt, Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
  • Josh Shepperd, Media Studies
  • Adrian J. Shin, Political Science
  • Alexandra A. Siegel, Political Science
  • Kristie Soares, Women & Gender Studies
  • Annika Socolofsky, Music
  • Brian Talbot, Philosophy
  • Ross Taylor, Journalism
  • Lizzy Trower, Geological Sciences
  • Yaffa E. Truelove, Geography
  • Rui Zhang, Business
  • Yida Zhang, Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering

Faculty hired with tenure

  • Matthew Peattie, Humanities
  • Justin Schwartz, Mechanical Engineering
  • Jason Thatcher, Business

Faculty promoted to full professor

  • David A. Brain, Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences
  • Esther Brown, Spanish & Portuguese
  • Julia M. Comerford, Astrophysical & Planetary Sciences
  • Josh Correll, Psychology & Neuroscience
  • Céline Dauverd, History
  • Liam C. Downey, Sociology
  • Nabil Echchaibi, Media Studies
  • Philip M. Fernbach, Business
  • Jennie Gerke, University Libraries
  • June L. Gruber, Psychology & Neuroscience
  • Gerardo Gutiérrez, Anthropology
  • Benjamin Hale, Environmental Studies
  • Peter Hamlington, Mechanical Engineering
  • Jill Harrison, Geography
  • Chris Heathwood, Philosophy
  • Jillian Heydt-Stevenson, English
  • Bri-Mathias Hodge, Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering
  • Marcus J. Holzinger, Aerospace Engineering Sciences
  • Pui Fong Kan, Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences
  • William Paul Kleiber, Applied Mathematics
  • Jennifer Knight, Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology
  • Tara L. Knight, Critical Media Practices
  • Nicole Lovenduski, Atmospheric & Oceanic Sciences
  • Andrew McAdam, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
  • Courtney McDonald, University LIbraries
  • Valerie J. McKenzie, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
  • Daniel Meulemans Medeiros, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
  • Brett Melbourne, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
  • Hope Michelsen, Mechanical Engineering
  • Celeste Montoya, Women & Gender Studies
  • Alexandra Nguyen, Music
  • Phaedra Carmen Pezzullo, Communication
  • Andrés Ignacio Prieto, Spanish & Portuguese
  • Juan G. Restrepo, Applied Mathematics
  • Soo H. Rhee, Psychology & Neuroscience
  • Gregory Brian Rieker, Mechanical Engineering
  • Javier Rivas, Spanish & Portuguese
  • Megan Shannon, Political Science
  • Hanna Rose Shell, Art & Art History / Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts
  • Núria Silleras-Fernández, Spanish & Portuguese
  • Christophe Spaenjers, Business
  • Wilfred V. Srubar III, Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering
  • Katherine E. Stange, Mathematics
  • Zoltan Sternovsky, Aerospace Engineering Sciences
  • Ted Striphas, Media Studies
  •  Timothy Whitehead, Chemical & Biological Engineering

Faculty promoted to teaching professor

  • Mark Gasta, Masters of the Environment
  • Christian Hammons, Anthropology
  • Ruth Hickerson, Communication
  • Ursula Berit Jany, Germanic & Slavic Languages & Literatures
  • Cynthia Keller, University Libraries
  • Abbey Lewis, University Libraries
  • Nathan McNeill, Mechanical Engineering
  • Eyal Rivlin, Jewish Studies
  • William Shutkin, Masters of the Environment
  • Jamie Skerski, Communication
  • Jonathan Spencer, Theatre & Dance
  • Julie Steinbrenner, Mechanical Engineering
  • Angela Thieman Dino, Herbst Program for Engineering, Ethics & Society
  • Divya Vernerey, Computer Science
  • James Walker, Undergraduate Enrichment Program