The Graduate School typically hosts an awards ceremony in April to recognize and celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of NIU’s graduate students. These students are nominated for recognition by their academic departments, are fellowship recipients, or are dissertation and thesis prize winners.
“The annual reception provides an opportunity for the Graduate School to recognize some of our truly outstanding students and is without a doubt one of my favorite events of the year,” said Brad Bond, dean of the Graduate School. “The COVID-19 pandemic obviously disrupted our plans for the reception, but the cancellation does not diminish our desire to recognize our outstanding graduate students. We hope that many of those we would have celebrated in April will be able to join us next year for a belated face-to-face celebration of their accomplishments.”
The following students are recipients of the 2019-2020 awards:
| Outstanding Graduate Student Awards | |
| Nathan Baer Kinesiology and Physical Education Andrew Balgeman Chemistry and Biochemistry Jessica Bayer Health Studies Carly Besler Sociology Ashley Blackwell Psychology Tashena Briggs Counseling and Higher Education Jessie Brucki Family and Consumer Sciences Jason Coenen Geology and Environmental Geosciences Cody Converse Geographic and Atmospheric Sciences Seth Coursey Geology and Environmental Geosciences Chelsea Cwiklik Art and Design Sean Daly Political Science Milivoje Davidovic Economics Kayla Emory Kinesiology and Physical Education Deborah Filbin Art and Design Robert Fritzen Geographic and Atmospheric Sciences Leena Ghrayeb Industrial and Systems Engineering Samantha Glaab-Lanigan Counseling and Higher Education Ann Guernon Health and Human Sciences, PhD Program Elizette Jimenez Allied Health & Communicative Disorders Arielle Kalvelage Counseling and Higher Education Sean Kennedy Chemistry & Biochemistry Zachary Killebrew English Frank Kovar Accountancy JoAnn LoSavio History | Alexander Lundberg History Tilak Malla Physics Kellsie Mohr Marketing Megan Montgomery Communication Michael Palomo Allied Health and Communicative Disorders Alison Petry Interdisciplinary Health Professions Andrew Plath Counseling and Higher Education Jacob Pratscher Mathematical Sciences Levi Rattliff Political Science Brenna Ritchie Biological Sciences Franchesca Romero Music Aneta Rzepka Mathematical Sciences Nan Shen Statistics and Actuarial Science Zach Smith Philosophy Markie Striegel Art and Design Ashley Trabaris Accountancy John Vanek Biological Sciences Shannon Walsh Allied Health & Communicative Disorders Casey Walters Operations Management and Information Systems Moira Wendel Psychology Sarah Wieczorek World Languages and Cultures Kaitland Woelky Health Studies Tianzhe Xu Physics Yamin Xu Art and Design Claire Ziegler Accountancy |
| Dissertation Completion Fellowship | ||
| Ashley Blackwell Psychology Lewis Hoss Political Science | Justin Iverson History Lauren Orton Biological Sciences | Ryan Stadel Physics Lindsay Vreeland English |
| Carter G. Woodson Fellowship |
| Erin Wilhelm Adult and Higher Education |
| Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois (DFI) Fellowship | |
| Sharazazi Dyson Counselor Education and Supervision | DaShae Rodriguez-Harris Psychology |
| Outstanding Dissertation Award | |
| Matthew Krogstad Physics (Health Sciences & STEM) | Nicole Loring Political Science (Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education) |
| Outstanding Thesis Award | |
| Logan Rice Physics (Health Sciences & STEM) | Anne Stoughton English (Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education) |
