Honors at Iowa students work regularly with a dedicated honors staff in the Blank Honors Center; however, without honors champions from across campus and beyond, the variety and intensity of honors opportunities would be greatly diminished. Because UI faculty, staff, and alums are key supporters of honors students and the Honors Program, Honors at Iowa recognizes their indispensable contributions each year, for these folks are indeed honors champions!
Past Award Winners
What is this award?
Advisors of honors students are integral to the mission of the University Honors Program, and we give special recognition each year to those who have distinguished themselves in guiding our students.
Nominations
The University Honors Program will send out a call for nominations by email in late fall/early spring each year. The nomination form will ask for the nominator's information, the nominee's information, and an explanation of why this advisor has proved exceptional in advising honors students.
2020
Jennifer Blair
Associate Director, Tippie College of Business
Director, Global Community Engagement, College of Law
2019
Josh Atcher
Director of Academic Resources and Support
Department of Engineering
2018
Marc Wold
Professor of Biochemistry
Department of Biochemistry
2017
John Solow
Professor of Economics
Tippie College of Business
2016
Michael Schluckebier
Associate Director, Recruiting and Admissions
Tippie College of Business
2015
Amy Brewster
Director of Global Experiences
Academic Advisor, College of Engineering
2014
Julie Claus
Senior Academic Advisor, Academic Advising Center
2013
Amanda Van Horne
Associate Professor, Speech Pathology & Audiology
2012
Patricia Folsom
Assistant Provost & Director, Academic Advising Center
2011
Lynne Lanning
Academic Advisor, Art & Art History
2010
Jonathan Poulton
Professor, Biology
What is this award?
This award recognizes an individual whose moral and administrative support for the Honors Program has especially affected the lives of honors educators and honors students at Iowa.
How is the winner selected?
The Honors Professional Staff select a University of Iowa faculty or staff member to receive this award for their campus support based on efforts made to promote the mission of the University Honors Program.
2022
Rachel Hootman, Admission Counselor
Rachel Hootman completed a B.S. in Global Resource Systems and B.A. in Environmental Studies from Iowa State University (’15). Hootman also holds a M.Sc. in International Development from the University College Dublin (’16).
She currently works in the University of Iowa’s Office of Admissions as an Admission Counselor. For the past three years, she has primarily recruited prospective students in SE Iowa and Central/Southern Illinois. Within the University of Iowa’s campus community, Rachel serves on the Neurodiversity and Autism Spectrum Support Committee, the High School Counselor Advisory Board (HSCAB), and is the Assistant Coordinator for Alumni Seeking Iowa Students (ASIST).
Rachel enjoyed stepping in to lead the Honors application process and serve as the liaison between the Office of Admissions and the Honors Program while our Assistant Director of High Ability Recruitment, Susan Dickinson, was on maternity leave.
2020
Hunter Gott, Information Technology Services
2019
University of Iowa, Office of Admissions
2018
Cindy Roberts
Associate Director, Scholarship Programs, Office of Admissions
Carmen Nugent
Scholarship Coordinator, Office of Admissions
2017
Laura Goddard
Assistant Director for High Ability Student Recruitment
2016
Keri Hornbuckle
Associate Dean, Undergraduate Program, COE
2015
Tom Keegan
Head, Digital Research & Publishing
2014
Steve Duck
Professor & Chair, Rhetoric
2013
Andrew Beckett
Assistant Dean, University College
2012
Patricia Folsom
Assistant Provost & Director, Academic Advising Center
2011
Jordan Cohen
Professor, Pharmacy
Vice President for Research & Economic Development
2010
Linda Maxson
Professor, Biology
Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
2009
Thomas R. Rocklin
Professor, Psychological & Quantitative Foundations
Vice President for Student Services; Dean of Students
2008
Nicholas Colangelo
Professor, Counseling, Rehabilitation, & Student Development
Director, Belin-Blank International Center for Gifted Education & Talent Development
2007
Michael J. Hogan
Professor, History
Executive Vice President & Provost
2006
Lola Lopes
Professor, Management & Organizations
Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education
This award's purpose is to acknowledge the critical and central role honors faculty play in the experience our students have at the university and in the Honors Program.
Nominations: The University Honors Program will send out a call for nominations by email, social media, and on our website in late fall/early spring each year. The nomination form will ask for the nominator's information, the nominee's information, and an explanation of why this instructor has proved exceptional in teaching honors students.
2022
Debra Trusty
Debra Trusty is a lecturer in the Department of Classics. She received her BA in Archaeology from the University of Evansville and MA and PhD in Classics from Florida State University. An archaeologist by trade, she spent a decade excavating at Mycenae (Greece) and wrote her dissertation on Bronze Age cooking vessels from Greece. Dr. Trusty came to UIowa in 2017 and enjoys teaching a wide range of courses, including Classical Mythology, Myth Makers of the Classical World, Greek Civilization, and Greek Archaeology and Ethnohistory. She also directs and leads summer study abroad programs in Greece for UIowa students (City of Athens and Greece: Ancient Perspectives, Modern Eyes), in addition to live-streaming video games based on Classics and Greco-Roman mythology on Twitch in the summer (https://www.twitch.tv/doctordebitage and https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd4dBeGtDa8nTTM5hsDOsMw).
2021
Dana Thomann
Dana Thomann is a first-generation University of Iowa graduate (’05) who benefited from the Belin-Blank Center as a young student growing up in rural Iowa. After college, Thomann completed a two-year commitment with Teach For America on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota.
In 2007, Thomann returned to the University of Iowa where she was employed by the Center for Diversity and Enrichment’s TRiO programs as a coordinator of academic services and, later, directed the Upward Bound Project, securing grants to continue the program on the University of Iowa campus. She currently works as a lecturer in the Department of Rhetoric, where she has served as the chair of the professional development program for new graduate teaching instructors.
Passionate about educational equity, Thomann partners with the University of Iowa’s Department of Academic Support and Retention to embed peer tutors in Rhetoric classrooms; called Success in Rhetoric (SiR), the program is intended to assist all Rhetoric students in their pursuit of academic success.
Thomann also holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University. She is working on a collection of linked short stories that focuses on the 1980s farm debt crisis.
2020
David Gould
Visiting Associate Professor, Public Policy Center
2019
Shaun Vecera
Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
2018
David Wilder
Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Occupational & Environmental Health
2017
The Department of Rhetoric
2016
Rachel Williams
Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies, Art & Art History
2015
Ron McMullen
Ambassador in Residence, Political Science
2014
Chris Cheatum
Professor, Chemistry
2013
Donna Parsons
Lecturer, Music & Honors
2012
Not Awarded
2011
Paul Kleiber
Professor, Physics & Astronomy
2010
Dénes Gazsi
Professor, Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures
2009
Daniel Quinn
Professor, Chemistry
2008
Tom Rice
Professor, Political Science
2007
Kelly Kadera
Associate Professor, Political Science
2006
Carol Severino
Associate Professor, Rhetoric
What is this award?
This award's purpose is to recognize the vital role honors thesis or project mentors perform in the education of honors students. Over three-quarters of honors students are involved with research and projects, and that work would be impossible without the guidance of their mentors.
The University Honors Program will send out a call for nominations to students through the Honorable Messenger, our weekly electronic newsletter. The nomination form will ask for the nominator's information, the nominee's information, and an explanation of how your honors mentor has benefited you and your experience as an Honor's student at Iowa.
2022
Anna Stanhewicz
Assistant Professor, Health and Human Physiology
Anna Stanhewicz is an Assistant Professor of Health and Human Physiology and is the director of the Microvascular Physiology Lab at the University of Iowa. Originally from New York, she earned her bachelors degree from the University of Rhode Island and completed her doctoral and post-doctoral training at Penn State University. Dr. Stanhewicz's research and teaching focuses on the cardiovascular system in health and disease, and how intervention strategies can improve healthy lifespan in people with elevated cardiovascular disease risk.
2021
Melissa Bates
Assistant Professor, Human Physiology
2020
Amrita Nain
Associate Professor, Finance
2019
Lori Branch
2018
Not awarded
2017
Kris DeMali
Associate Professor, Department of Biochemistry
2016
Andrew High
Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies
2015
Meenakshi Gigi Durham
Professor, Journalism & Mass Communications
2014
Stephen Vlastos
Professor, History
2013
Brooks Landon
Professor, English
What is this award?
Team-teaching is a crucial dynamic of intellectual community. A great way for honors students to pursue inquiry and learn constructive argument is to witness and join lively conversations between professors who bring different educations and interests to important questions. Professor Lane Davis excelled at team teaching, and this award, named in his honor, recognizes and encourages faculty to team teach honors students.
How is the winner selected?
The Honors Professional Staff review student course evaluations to select awardees. Presentation of this award is contingent upon the availability of team-taught honors course offerings.
2021
Liz Mills
Liz Mills graduated from the University of Iowa in 2016 and joined the Office of Governmental Relations team, where she helped craft communications with legislators and plan her favorite Iowa event, Hawkeye Caucus Day. Liz left UI to join the U.S. Peace Corps, where she served in the Philippines from 2017-2019. After completing her service, Liz returned to the Office of Governmental Relations and continues to support the University of Iowa's mission to serve Iowans.
Brian Lai
Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science
2020
Rachel Williams
Associate Professor, Art & Art History
Jacob Priest
Assistant Professor, Psychological & Quantitative Foundations
2019
Amy Strathman
Associate Professor, Chemistry
Adam Brummett
Lecturer, Chemistry
Tori Forbes
Associate Professor, Chemistry
2018
Janet A. Fairley
Chair, John S. Strauss Professor, Professor of Dermatology
Vincent Liu
Clinical Professor of Dermatology and Pathology
2017
Andrew Forbes
Associate Professor, Department of Biology
Tori Z. Forbes
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry
2016
James Tamerius
Assistant Professor, Geography and Sustainability Sciences
Elizabeth Ridder
Visiting Assistant Professor, Geography and Sustainability Sciences
Adam Skibbe
GIS Administrator
Eric Tate
Assistant Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, Geography and Sustainability Sciences
2015
No Eligible Candidates; No Award Given
2014
Sarah Larsen
Professor, Chemistry
Russell Larsen
Senior Lecturer, Chemistry
2013
Tom Keegan
Lecturer, Rhetoric
Matt Gilchrist
Lecturer, Rhetoric
2012
Karen Heimer
Professor & Chair, Sociology
Joseph Lang
Professor & Chair, Statistics & Actuarial Science
2011
Jennifer Sessions
Associate Professor, History
Jae-Jae Spoon
Assistant Professor, Political Science
2010
Kenneth G. Brown
Professor, Management and Organizations
Amy Colbert
Associate Professor, Management and Organizations
2009
Jon Ringen
Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies
Edward A. Wasserman
Professor, Psychology
2008
Cary Covington
Associate Professor, Political Science
Tom Rice
Professor, Political Science
What is this award?
Awarded to faculty and staff by the Associate Provost's Undergraduate Fellowships Committee and the Honors Program in recognition of extraordinary commitment to the recruitment and support of national fellowship applicants at the undergraduate level. Selection conducted by the Director of Scholar Development and the Undergraduate Fellowships Committee in early spring.
The Scholar Advocate Award is traditionally presented at our annual Honors Recognition Ceremony.
Past Recipients:
2020
Cornelia Lang
Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy
2019
Ron McMullen
Ambassador in Residence, University of Iowa
2018
Mike Schnieders
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa
2017
Martha Kirby
Academic Advisor, Department of Political Science, University of Iowa
2016
Department of Physics, University of Iowa
2015
Blaine Greteman
Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Iowa