This spring, the Department of Psychology presented four awards recognizing excellence among its graduate students, staff, and faculty. This year’s recipients are highlighted below. Congratulations to all!
Department of Psychology Graduate Student Teaching/TA Awards to Emma Cunningham and Eren Fukuda
Emma Cunningham has taught or TAed many courses across our curriculum, including Introduction to Psychology (TA and Instructor of Record), Research Methods, an undergraduate Capstone (Instructor of Record), as well as our graduate statistics sequence. Across these experiences Emma is dedicated to supporting her students in becoming empowered learners. Professor Shawn Green shares that “she’s shown an incredible dedication to ensuring that students come away not just with increases in knowledge, but with increased feelings of self-efficacy and capacity to learn going forward.” A student stated, “Genuinely one of my favorite classes I’ve ever taken!! I really enjoyed the structure and am very thankful for Emma as an instructor.”
Eren Fukuda has demonstrated excellence in teaching across two undergraduate Depth courses (Psychology of Human Emotions and Cultural Psychology) as a TA, and as Instructor of Record for Child Development and an undergraduate Capstone seminar. Eren’s student driven approach was highlighted in Professor Nick Buttrick’s nomination of Eren: “She was constant in centering the student experience in the class (especially in the sections), and was always looking forward to figure out how to best generate the sort of classroom that we were trying to create.” This is evidenced by a student comment on her evaluation: “Eren is not only the best TA I’ve had for a psychology class, but the best TA I’ve had during my time here at UW. She facilitated our discussion exceptionally where my peers and I always had such an engaging discussion that left me even more informed about our course concepts and how they connect to real-life.”
Department of Psychology Distinguished Service Awards for Graduate Students to Emma Cunningham, Padideh Hassanpour and Stephanie Ward
Since 2021, Emma Cunningham has been involved in departmental service as a colloquium committee member, graduate student representative to faculty meetings, undergraduate student mentor, and graduate student social events committee member and chair. Beyond her service to the department, Emma has contributed to the field as a manuscript reviewer and as a graduate student organizer for the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Scholars Mentorship Program.
From guest lecturing in courses for students in the Schools of Pharmacy and Social Work and Department of Gender and Women’s Studies to providing mentorship and counsel as an undergraduate thesis mentor and panelist at an event for undergraduates exploring post-bac and graduate school options, Padideh Hassanpour has used her knowledge and expertise to serve others both within and outside of the department. A member of the graduate student social events and DEI committees, Padideh has also provided service to the department as a graduate student representative to faculty meetings and Psychology Research Experience Program (PREP) mentor.
Stephanie Ward‘s service to the department began in 2020 when she joined the Clinical Area Group’s ad hoc committee for antiracism in academic coursework. That same year, she contributed to campus-wide efforts to reduce sexual violence as an action-team volunteer for the UW–Madison Culture of Respect Initiative. A graduate student representative to faculty meetings, PREP mentor, member of the ad hoc committee for accommodations, Stephanie has also provided insight to new TAs as they onboard, served as a peer reviewer for a number of journals, and been a member of the Student Advisory Board for Psychology of Women Quarterly.
Department of Psychology Teaching Excellence Award to Julia Greenberg
Julia Greenberg is an outstanding class instructor and has made very strong contribution to our teaching mission. Her contributions are evident in the care she takes in preparing her course materials and in students’ course evaluations. They note that she is organized, clear, and tremendously supportive. Julia has also contributed to our teaching mission by meeting with and mentoring other members of our teaching community. Her teaching advice and generosity in supporting the development of other instructors is greatly appreciated.
Department of Psychology Staff Excellence Awards to Kari Mass and Mary Anderson
Undergraduate Advisor Kari Maas does an outstanding job helping students understand the requirements necessary to complete the degree, but her efforts go far beyond offering this type of advice. She is patient and thoughtful with students as they consider their immediate and long-term paths and finds way to effectively challenge them to figure out what they want. In so doing, she helps them to create a sense of efficacy and control over their educational destiny. In these ways, her efforts complement what is done in the classroom to support student growth.
Mary Anderson serves as the department’s Communication Manager and has transformed how we connect with outside entities and how we connect with each other. She is involved a wide range of activities and, in each context, effectively amplifies our messaging and elevates the quality of our communications.