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Recipients of the annual Phoenix Awards, the highest honor presented to graduate students and faculty, were (from left) Cheryl Kutcher, Master’s Student Phoenix Award, Dr. Gail Wilson, Outstanding Faculty Phoenix Award, and Chrissie Segars, Ph.D. Phoenix Award.

Graduate students, faculty honored for contributions to OSU graduate education

Monday, April 17, 2017

Oklahoma State University graduate students, staff and faculty were recognized with awards presented by the Graduate College and the Graduate and Professional Student Government Association (GPSGA) April 14 during the college’s annual spring awards ceremony.

Graduate Research Excellence awards recognize outstanding accomplishments reflected in master’s theses or doctoral dissertations. Recipients received a letter of commendation from OSU President Burns Hargis and a commemorative plaque from Associate Vice President for Research Dr. Ron Van Den Bussche. Winners:

  • Dr. Adam Cobb, Natural Resource Ecology and Management
  • Gabriella Bragoli, International Agriculture
  • Jason Higgins, English
  • Muthu Subramanian Mohan, Materials Science and Engineering
  • Dr. Caitlin Barnes, Environmental Science
  • Dr. Jin Im, Hospitality Administration
  • Kristine Chua, Psychology

Four master’s and doctoral students were named Honorary Commencement Marshals for academic performance and discipline-appropriate scholarly contributions that capture the essence of OSU’s land-grant mission. Recipients received $1,000 awards and are recognized at commencement where they wear special gown adornments. The students were recognized with certificates from Associate Provost and Dean of the Graduate College Dr. Sheryl Tucker, who will lead the graduates in the processionals/recessionals and awarding of the diploma covers. Commencement marshals for 2017:

  • Aaron Moses, M.A., Art History
  • Raghav Nargotra, M.S., Management Information Systems
  • Meron Wondimagegnhu, Ph.D., Nutritional Sciences
  • Lynne Beaty, Ph.D., Zoology

The Summer Dissertation Fellowships support summer research for outstanding OSU post-candidacy, doctoral students from any disciplinary or interdisciplinary program. The summer fellowships include a $6,000 stipend and a tuition waiver for up to three credit hours. This year’s Summer Dissertation Fellowship winners were recognized with certificates from Tucker:

  • Juliana Artier, Microbiology
  • Joel Billings, Fire and Emergency Management
  • Nabin Poudel, Veterinary Biomedical Sciences
  • Mahmoud Tabari, English
  • Aluth Premaratne, Chemistry
  • Christopher Goodchild, Integrative Biology
  • Michelle Miller, Leisure Studies
  • Liang Xue, Geology
  • Ashley Helle, Clinical Psychology
  • Pushpinder Litt, Food Science
  • Arezoo Zare, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
  • Darci Klein, Educational Psychology

The Graduate College Ambassadors are a group of honored volunteer graduate students, who are passionate about OSU, excited about their graduate education experience, and eager to share their insights with future graduate students. Ambassadors are selected from a pool of students nominated by their graduate program and disciplinary college. The program is directed by Jacquie Pickering, coordinator of student professional development. The 2017 Ambassadors recognized were:

College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources

Kelsy Robinson, Animal Science

Brooke Seibert (Lead Ambassador), Agricultural Communications

Jose Uscanga, Agricultural Education

Kendra Wills, Animal Science

College of Arts & Sciences

Kendall Scarlett, Integrative Biology

Danielle Perryman, Integrative Biology        

College of Education

Roman Peterson, Educational Leadership Studies

Theresa Riles, Educational Leadership Studies

College of Engineering, Architecture, and Technology

Prashanth Gari, Electrical Engineering

Sam Koteeswaran, Chemical Engineering

Kiran Muniraju, Electrical Engineering

College of Human Sciences

Li Ding, Hospitality Administration

Babajide Ojo, Human Sciences

Graduate College

Tahmidur Tushar, Interdisciplinary Science

Spears School of Business

Raghav Nargotra, Management Information Systems

Center for Veterinary Health Sciences

Jennifer Rudd, Veterinary Biomedical Science

The Graduate College and GPSGA recognized the Outstanding Graduate Coordinator for their service to faculty who lead and manage graduate programs with $500 cash awards. The recipient was Dr. Mohammad Abdel Salam in the Geology Program.

The Phoenix Awards are the highest recognition bestowed by GPSGA and recognize exemplary achievement in leadership and scholarship, community and university service, and professional involvement, especially as it relates to the OSU graduate student body. The student award winner receives a $350 and the faculty awardee receives $500 monetary awards from the GPSGA and the Graduate College. The student and faculty Phoenix winners were given plaques by Solmaz Bastani, GPSGA vice president and Luci Wilson, GPSGA social chair:

Ph.D. Phoenix Award Winner:

Chrissie Segars, Crop Science

M.S. Phoenix Award Winner:

Cheryl Kutcher, Creative Writing

Outstanding Faculty Award:

Dr. Gail Wilson, Natural Resource Ecology and Management

GPSGA also recognized Chris Goodchild, Integrative Biology, as the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant with a $350 award and certificate.

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