Awards and Recognition

Melinda Pettigrew has been named the next dean of the School of Public Health (SPH), effective Dec. 29. An experienced academic leader and accomplished researcher and educator, Pettigrew will be the school’s chief executive and chief academic officer, providing collaborative leadership to maintain and enhance SPH as a leader in advancing population health and health equity in Minnesota and beyond.

Pettigrew comes to the University of Minnesota from Yale University, where she is currently deputy dean of the School of Public Health and Anna M.R. Lauder Professor of Epidemiology. She has previously served as interim dean of the Yale School of Public Health and for nearly a decade served as associate dean (2011-17) and senior associate dean for academic affairs (2017-22). Among many other accomplishments, she has led the development of innovative degree and certificate programs as well as multidisciplinary concentrations in U.S. health justice, climate change, global health, and public health modeling.

Beth Lewis has been named as the University of Minnesota’s vice provost for faculty and academic affairs. Faculty and Academic Affairs develops, supports, and celebrates faculty and academic leaders who advance inclusion, excellence, and innovation in research, teaching, and service. Lewis has been a faculty member at the U of M for 16 years, including serving as the director of the School of Kinesiology.

As vice provost for faculty and academic affairs, Lewis will collaborate with faculty, department leaders, deans, chancellors, and senior academic administrators to provide leadership in policies and practices affecting academic and faculty life.

To accelerate the Midwest Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Center's mission to develop therapeutics for viruses with pandemic potential, the center announced $3 million in funding for six additional projects over the next two years. Funding for the six projects has been awarded to Ryan Abdella (University of Minnesota), Luiza Mendonça (University of Minnesota), Shaun Olsen (University of Texas), Tony Huang (NYU Grossman School of Medicine), Yogesh Gupta (University of Texas), Shawn Yang (Georgia State University) and Elisa Fanunza (University of Cagliari).

Barry Kudrowitz is featured in a Star Tribune story about humor and creativity; Jon Oliver is interviewed in the CBS Minnesota story, “Why are some people more prone to mosquito bites?”; segregation doubled the odds of some Black children dying in U.S. cities 100 years ago reports Science, with research by J'Mag Karbeah; Joanne Slavin is quoted in a New York Times story about the WHO’s designation of aspartame as possibly carcinogenic; David Quinn is quoted in Scientific American about whether parents should worry about summer slide; Daniel Schwarcz is quoted in the New York Times story, “Insurer’s Retreat in Florida Signals Crisis With No Easy Fix”; Alik Widge is quoted in the Star Tribune about U of M research that will study the brain's electrical signals as warnings for depression, suicide; Laalitha Surapaneni is interviewed in Minnesota Public Radio about coping with a future of smoky skies and poor air quality; Lindsay Glesener is interviewed in CBS Minnesota about why northern lights are so hard to predict; An Garagiola and Janie Mayeron are quoted in the Inside Higher Ed story, “Tribes Call for Reparations From University of Minnesota."

The Regents Professorship was established in 1965 by the Board of Regents to recognize the national and international prominence of faculty members, including exceptional contributions through teaching, research, scholarship, or creative work, and service towards the public good. The Regents Professorship is the highest honor the University of Minnesota bestows on its faculty. The following faculty members have been named Regents Professors:

Sarah Hobbie
Dianne Neumark-Sztainer
Jean O’Brien

In recognition of the significance and potential future impact of her research, Helen Vuong, an assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School, has been named a 2023 Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

The Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences provides funding to young investigators of outstanding promise in science relevant to the advancement of human health. The Vuong Laboratory focuses its research on dissecting the role of the microbiome in the development of neural circuits and behaviors in health and neurodevelopmental disorders. Vuong was selected from among 188 nominations submitted by leading U.S. academic and research institutions to receive four years of funding to invest in exploratory research.

The Awards for Academic Unit Service recognize faculty for exceptional service that has strengthened the functioning and climate of a local unit or department. This is the inaugural year of these awards, a collaboration between the Provost’s Office and the Faculty Consultative Committee. 

The Award for Excellence in Academic Unit Service recognizes ongoing institutional service at the local level. One award is available for each department or unit, systemwide. From among those nominated for the Award for Excellence in Academic Unit Service, six individuals were chosen for higher-level awards. These awards, the Provost’s Unit Service Award, and the University of Minnesota Unit Service Award, serve to emphasize and elevate the importance of this type of service to the University’s success. 

University of Minnesota Unit Service Award, $15,000

• Catharine Saint-Croix, Assistant Professor, Philosophy, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
   

Provost’s Unit Service Award, $5,000

• Wendy Anderson, Lecturer, Communication Studies, College of Liberal Arts, University of Minnesota Twin Cities 
• Pedro Fernandez-Funez, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Medical School, University of Minnesota Twin Cities 
• Jessie Kember, Teaching Assistant Professor, Educational Psychology, College of Education & Human Development, University of Minnesota Twin Cities 
• Xavier Prat-Resina, Associate Professor, Chemistry, University of Minnesota Rochester
• Shana Watters, Teaching Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, College of Science & Engineering, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
   

Award for Excellence in Academic Unit Service, $500
 

Forty individuals have received the Award for Excellence in Academic Unit Service. See the list of recipients. 

Barbara Kleist, director of entrepreneurial and development programs at the Institute on Community Integration, recently received the Policy Award from the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). This award recognizes significant contributions to public policy that have advanced the field and resulted in positive outcomes for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. AAIDD is the oldest, largest, and most influential membership organization concerned with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Zan Gao, professor in the School of Kinesiology and director of the Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory (PAEL), was recently selected as a fellow in the National Academy of Kinesiology (NAK). Becoming a fellow in NAK is the highest recognition achieved by a scholar in the field of kinesiology. To be selected, an individual must meet rigorous criteria for scientific research, professional scholarship, leadership experience, and service to the field. 

Laurie Van Egeren has been named as the next vice provost for public engagement, effective Oct. 23. The Office for Public Engagement collaborates with and works across campuses and colleges to elevate the importance and value of reciprocal public engagement within academic units, and to integrate community-engaged practices into academic priorities. Van Egeren is an experienced leader of public and community engagement in higher education and a scholar in the field of public engagement and evaluation methods for community-engaged research. She currently serves as assistant provost for university-community partnerships and adjunct professor in human development and family studies at Michigan State University, and previously served as the interim associate provost for university outreach and engagement. She holds a PhD in developmental psychology and an MA in child/family clinical psychology from Michigan State University.