Graduate Student Leadership Awards
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The University provides two awards to graduating graduate and professional student leaders: The President & Provost's Honor for Developing New Initiatives in Graduate & Professional Student Life and the Dr. Andy Binns Award for Outstanding Service to Graduate and Professional Student Life.
These awards are only given to students upon their graduation from Penn. Awards are announced and an annual awards ceremony is typically held in May each year for both Spring and December graduates. Please read more about the awards and how to nominate students below.
President & Provost's Honor for Developing New Initiatives in Graduate & Professional Student Life
Presented to graduate or professional students, upon their graduation from Penn, who have been a catalyst for transformative and lasting new developments that have enhanced graduate and professional student life at Penn. The award is reserved for those who have created something new and institutionalized it.
Dr. Andy Binns Impact Award for Outstanding Service to Graduate and Professional Student Life
Presented to graduate or professional students, upon their graduation from Penn, who have significantly impacted or extensively contributed to graduate and professional student life at Penn through outstanding service involvement in student life programs, initiatives, or organizations. The award is not just for longstanding leaders; it is reserved for those who made significant positive contributions or improvements to the operations and functions of these programs, initiatives, or organizations to the benefit of graduate and professional student life.
These awards are designed to recognize contributions specifically to graduate and professional student life across campus, not improvements primarily made to academic life. Schools and departments are the appropriate sources to acknowledge academic achievements and improvements.
To nominate a graduating student for either award, please fill out this form (link is only active when nominations are being accepted).
Nominations can be made at any time, but please adhere to these deadlines:
- Nominations for the previous December, or upcoming May and August graduates must be received by March 1. **Spring 2023 Deadline extended to March 3**
- Nominations for upcoming December graduates must be received by October 1.
Nomination Guidelines:
- One well-written nomination is more than sufficient. This is not a popularity contest, so multiple nominations are not necessary.
- Nominations are accepted from students, faculty and staff. Self-nominations are accepted.
- When nominating a student for co-establishing an initiative, you must nominate all of the students involved, even if some are not graduating in this year. The selection committee will not consider nominations for some but not all of the students involved in founding an initiative.
A committee will review self-nominations and nominations made by others to evaluate the fit between the graduate and professional students' service and the mission of the awards. There is no limit to the number of students who can receive these awards; however these are prestigious awards and winners are carefully selected.
We congratulate all of our past award winners.
Recognizes graduating students who have been a catalyst for transformative and lasting new developments that have enhanced graduate and professional student life at Penn. The award is reserved for those who have created something new and institutionalized it.
Year | Recipients |
---|---|
2020 |
Kevin Alicea-Torres, Ph.D. Gregory Callaghan, Ph.D. Gina Chang, Ph.D. Matthew Lee, Ph.D. |
2019 | Leslie Jones, Ph.D. |
2018 |
Anthony Pratcher, Ph.D. Brenda Salantes, Ph.D. |
2017 |
Ufuoma Cleopatra Abiola, Ed.D. Robert Ashford, MSW |
2016 |
Alixandra Barash, Ph.D. Kelsey Van Gelder, Ph.D. |
2015 |
Vicky Vi Thuy Doan-Nguyen, Ph.D. |
2014 |
Steven Mong, MBA Emily Joy Rothchild, PhD Luyao Wang, MSE Nina Zhao, M.D. |
2013 |
Evan Black, MSE Colleen Daley, MSE Susan Mello, PhD Maria Murray, PhD Scott Ordway, PhD Akeesha Washington, MSE James W. Wiley, III, Esq |
2012 |
Allyson Davis, MPA Joseph Friedman, Esq Linda Meiberg, PhD Maher Zamel, EdD |
2011 |
Michael Baiocchi, PhD Cassondra Giombetti, PhD Christa Heyward, PhD Mahlet N. Mesfin, PhD |
2010 |
Andrew Rennekamp, PhD Arie Barendrecht, MBA Jack Higgins, MGA Leslie Anne Warden, PhD Renzo Weber, MBA Rani Yadav, MBA |
2009 |
Brian Coleman, PhD Jessica Kim, EdD Heather Klusaritz, PhD Nikki Thorpe, MCP |
2008 |
Mete Civelek, PhD Noah D. Drezner, PhD Wenny Lin, PhD Lee Shaker, PhD Kara Yokley, MBA |
2007 |
Cay Bradley, PhD Scott Brodsky, MGA Lela Jacobsohn, PhD Kevin Jude, PhD Joung Lee, MGA |
2006 | Kyle Farley, PhD |
2020
Jonathan Hoffman, J.D. (Law)
David Kirui, Ph.D. (Sociology, Arts & Sciences)
Shichun (Asminet) Ling, Ph.D., (Criminology, Arts & Sciences)
Silicia Lomax, MPH (Medicine)
Sudhir (Sid) Radhakrishna, MBA (Wharton)
2019
Dasha Donado, DMD (Dental Medicine)
Raymond Gonzales, MPH (Medicine)
Daniel Perez, MPA (LPS, Arts & Sciences)
Benjamin Truong (DMD, Dental Medicine)
2018
Akudo Ejelonu, SAS LPS / Medicine
Rosario Jaime-Lara, Nursing
Ruiyuan Ma, SEAS
Miles Owen, Design / LPS Fels
2017
Victoria Aguilar for service with LAGAPSA.
Nathan Castillo for service with LAGAPSA.
Will Schmenner for service with SASgov.
Justine Sefcik for service with GAPSA.
Prashant Subbarao for service with SASgov.
Yunning Wang for service with Chinese Students & Scholars at Penn
2016
Miriam Archibong for service with GAPSA and the Journal of Law & Public Affairs.
Benjamin Ediger for service with GAPSA.
Katherine France for service with GAPSA.
Stephen Iacovo for service withService Member & Veterans’ Legal Assistance Project.
Aurora MacRae-Crerar for service with the CAPS Student Advisory Board.
Samantha Miller for service with GAPSA and LEARN.
Paul Welfer for service with GAPSA and SASgov.
Andy Wu for service with GAPSA and PAAGSA.
2015
Suzanne Bratt for service with GAPSA and with SASgov.
Rachel Delgado for service with GAPSA.
Desmond Diggs for service with BGAPSA.
Katherine Gibson for service with Advancing Women in Engineering.
Priya Hattay for service with GAPSA.
Steven Lin for service with GAPSA.
Vinayak Mathur for service with SASgov and GAPSA.
Sibel Ozcelik for service with Penn Social Impact Leaders, Stylus, and the Penn Neuroscience Society.