KU News Release

KU Graduate School selects outstanding teaching assistants, faculty for awards

LAWRENCE — Diana Carlin, dean of the Graduate School and International Programs at the University of Kansas, honored eight students and 10 faculty members for their contributions to graduate education in an April 25 ceremony in the Burge Union.

Graduate teaching assistants received awards totaling more than $6,000 for their dedication and skills. The teaching assistant award winners also will be recognized during commencement on Sunday, May 20.

Recipients of $1,250 Carlin Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards are: Tera Lee Hedrick, history of art; Karla Knutson, English; and Joe Sommers, English.

Recipients of $500 Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards are: Eli Beracha, business, Anne Dotter, humanities and western civilization; David Peavler, history; and Regina Peszat, French and Italian.

Elizabeth Legerski, sociology, earned an Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award and the $1,000 Distinguished Service Award.

The Graduate School Dean’s Award recognizes faculty members’ work in graduate education. The Graduate School has presented the award since 1996. This year’s honorees are: John Ferraro, professor and chair of the hearing and speech program; Steve Himes, executive director of the Graduate and Professional Association; Susan Kemper, a Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of Psychology; Jim Lichtenberg, associate dean of the School of Education; Allen Rawitch, dean of graduate studies at the KU Medical Center; and Susan Twombly, professor and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy.

Joseph Steinmetz, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, presented the Byron A. Alexander Graduate Mentor Award to Joann Keyton, professor of communication studies; Robert Timm, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology; and Robert Rowland, professor and chair of the Department of Communication Studies. Steinmetz presented the John C. Wright Graduate Mentor Award to Craig Lunte, professor of chemistry.

“The awards recognize the accomplishments of graduate students and celebrate the many achievements within graduate education at KU,” said Carlin. “Having graduate students and faculty who excel at the level of the honorees is what makes KU graduate programs nationally recognized.”

KU has 24 graduate programs ranked in the top 25 in the nation and 12 in the top 10 among public universities.

Carlin endowed the Carlin Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, which was first presented in 1993. The KU Graduate School sponsors the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award, which was started in 1990, and the Distinguished Service Award, which has been awarded for more than 25 years.

Teaching assistants were nominated by students and departments and programs throughout the university. A selection committee chose winners based on their commitment to teaching, departmental and student comments and level of responsibility.

The award-winning teaching assistants are listed below by hometown, degree program, dissertation topic and award. When available, parents’ names and information about previous education or degrees earned are also listed.

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence 66044
Joe Sommers, doctoral student in English specializing in Bakhtinian critical approach to literature and the novelization of the oral folk tradition into narratives specifically written for children and young adults in America and Great Britain in the 20th century; Carlin Graduate Teaching Assistant Award; master’s degree in English from Marquette University; bachelor’s degree in writing intensive English and journalism from Marquette University; bachelor's degree in secondary education in English from Missouri Western State University; Hinsdale South High School, Darien, Ill.

LYON COUNTY
From Emporia 66801
David Peavler, doctoral student in history with emphasis on race relations as a defining issue in Kansas from the turn of the 20th century to the time of Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (1954); Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award; bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s degree in U.S. history from Emporia State University; Emporia High School; son of David L. and the late Connie Peavler; as a staff sergeant in the Kansas Air National Guard, Peavler returned to KU Feb. 28 after a six-month deployment to Kirkuk, Iraq, where he was a trainer of more than 100 Iraqi fire/rescue/emergency medical personnel.

SEDGWICK COUNTY
From Wichita 67218
Tera Lee Hedrick, doctoral student in history of art with focus on Late Byzantine liturgical objects; Carlin Graduate Teaching Assistant Award; daughter of Terry and Julie Hedrick; master’s degree in history of art from KU, fall 2005; bachelor’s degree in history of art from KU, spring 2003; Wichita East High School.

SHERMAN COUNTY
From Goodland 67735
Regina Peszat, doctoral student in French; Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award; daughter of Delbert Rice and Karen Crow; master’s degree in French from KU, spring 2005; bachelor’s degree in French from Wichita State University; Goodland High School.

MINNESOTA
From Cottage Grove 55016
Elizabeth Miklya Legerski, doctoral student in sociology with emphasis on gender, family, work and social inequalities and research focus on the effects of economic restructuring of the lives of working-class families; Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award and Distinguished Service Award; daughter of Ken and Colleen Miklya; bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology from Brigham Young University; South St. Paul High School, South St. Paul, Minn.

NORTH DAKOTA
From Voltaire 58792
Karla Knutson, doctoral student in English focusing on adaptations of Geoffrey Chaucer for children in the 19th century; Carlin Graduate Teaching Assistant Award; daughter of Kristian and Cathy Knutson; master’s degree in English language and literature from KU, spring 2005; bachelor’s degree in English literature from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.; Velva High School, Velva, N.D.

FRANCE
From Offendorf
Anne Dotter, doctoral student in American studies whose topic is a transnational analysis of teen-girl films in France; Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award; daughter of Jean-Pierre and Gabrielle Dotter; bachelor’s degree in English and master’s degree in American civilization, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France; Notre Dame High School, Strasbourg, France.

ISRAEL
From Zur Yigal
Eli Beracha, doctoral student in finance with emphasis in real estate investments; Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award; son of Yosef and Lina Bracha; master’s degree in economics from KU, fall 2005; bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from KU, summer 2002; Rothberg High School, Ramat-Hasharon, Israel.

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