The University of Wyoming School of Graduate Education and the Graduate Council announced on Apr. 27 the recipients of the 2026 graduate student and mentor awards, recognizing outstanding achievements in teaching, research, and mentorship.
These annual awards honor both graduate students and faculty for excellence in their respective fields. The announcement highlights significant contributions made by individuals across various departments at the university.
This year’s John P. Ellbogen Outstanding Graduate Assistant Teaching Awards were presented to Olivia Grella from Watertown, Connecticut (Department of Psychology); Cindy Eke from Greater Accra, Ghana (Department of Communication and Journalism); Faith Breads from Waldorf, Maryland (Department of English); Megan Lee from Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Department of Kinesiology and Health); and Joseph Saufley from Hershey, Pennsylvania (Department of English).
Jaylan Aliev, a graduate student in psychology from Boise, Idaho, received the Outstanding Master’s Thesis Award for his work titled “The influence of victim physical maturity and victim-defendant age congruency on mock juror decision-making in child sex abuse trials.” McKenna Litynski, a recent Ph.D. graduate in anthropology from Hollywood, Maryland, was awarded the Outstanding Dissertation Award for her dissertation “Unraveling threads of the past: Evaluating cultural, functional and environmental factors influencing the production and use of bone needles and awls.”
Faculty mentor honors went to Miriam Sanders (Early Career Graduate Faculty Mentor Award), Lauren Shoemaker (Mid-Career Graduate Faculty Mentor Award), and Qin “Arthur” Zhu (Distinguished Graduate Faculty Mentor Award) for their dedication to mentoring graduate students.
The faculty mentor awards recognize commitment to supporting graduate education at various stages in an academic career. The recognition reflects ongoing efforts at the University of Wyoming to foster excellence among both students and faculty.
