Awards

Undergraduate | Graduate | Postdoctoral | Alumni | Staff | Faculty

Undergraduate Awards

Jum Nunnally Honors Research Award

This award is given each year to a psychology major who has completed the Honors Program. It is given in honor and memory of Professor Jum C. Nunnally, who designed and initiated the Honors Program in the Department of Psychology. This may have been the first Honors Program in the College of Arts and Science, and served as a model for those that developed later in other departments in the college. Nominations for this award are provided by Honors mentors and the winner of the award is determined by the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Department of Psychology.

2024 Award Winner: Kavi Jakes
2023 Award Winner: Lauren Radomski

Undergraduate Academic Achievement Award

This award is given to the graduating psychology major with the highest GPA in the major and highest overall GPA. The winner of this award is determined by the Director of Undergraduate Studies based on the official transcript of all psychology majors. When there are multiple students who could be considered as having achieved this goal, the Undergraduate Studies Committee will choose the winner based on the academic rigor of the coursework completed and quality points earned at Vanderbilt.

2024 Award Winner: Sophia Potolsky
2023 Award Winner: Ke (Taylor) Lai
2022 Award Winner: Alexandra Paulina Dulman

Undergraduate Overall Excellence Award

This award is given to an undergraduate student in psychology who achieved an exemplary degree of success in academics, research, teaching, and/or other domains at Vanderbilt University. Students must be nominated by a faculty member in the Department of Psychology. Nomination letters, which can be submitted by any faculty member in the department, should describe the most impressive accomplishments the student has made in their psychology studies while at Vanderbilt. Award winners are determined by the Undergraduate Studies Committee of the Department of Psychology.

2024 Award Winners: Sophia Mueller & Chloe Hord
2023 Award Winner: Maggie Xu
2022 Award Winner: Julia Rose Pines

Graduate Awards

Jum Nunnally Dissertation Award

The Jum C. Nunnally Dissertation Award recognizes a recent outstanding doctoral dissertation in the Department of Psychology. The recipient receives a certificate and a $500 award.

Jum C. Nunnally came to Vanderbilt in 1960. In 1961, he became the second chair of the department. He served as chair from 1961-1964 and again from 1967-1970. Under Jum’s leadership, the department grew substantially in stature, including significant increases in both the number and quality of the faculty. A memorial fund to support student awards was established in 1982 by his friends and family. Proceeds from this fund were used to establish the Jum C. Nunnally Dissertation Award in 2010.

2024 Award Winner: Saman Abbaspoor
2023 Award Winner: Jacob Westerberg

Pat Burns Memorial Graduate Student Research Award

Pat Burns touched generations of doctoral students during her nearly four decades of service to Vanderbilt University. In memory of her tireless efforts to help guide our students through all phases of their graduate education, the Department of Psychology establishes a Graduate Student Research Award to recognize outstanding achievement in research by our most outstanding graduate students. The recipient receives a plaque and a $500 award.

2024 Award Winner: Qimeng Wang
2023 Award Winners: Saman Abbaspoor & Jason Chow

William F. Hodges Teaching Assistant Award

This award recognizes outstanding achievement as a teaching assistant by a graduate student in the Department of Psychology. William Hodges was an undergraduate and a graduate student at Vanderbilt who received his doctorate in 1967. He subsequently went to the University of Colorado where he ultimately became a full professor and director of graduate studies. He was well known for his research on the psychological impact of divorce, but he was also recognized as a great teacher. After his untimely death in 1992, family and friends established the William F. Hodges Teaching Assistant Award at Vanderbilt to honor outstanding teaching assistants.

2024 Award Winner: Jordan Gunn
2022 Award Winner: Saman Abbaspoor

Lisa M. Quesenberry Foundation Award

The Lisa M. Quesenberry Foundation Award, at the Community Foundation of Louisville, was established by Irvin and Mary Ann Quesenberry and Kathryn Quesenberry to memorialize the accomplishments of their daughter and sister, Lisa M. Quesenberry. It is designed to provide research or study awards to motivated graduate students. Preferably, the awards will be made to female graduate students who are studying the field of psychology and who have overcome significant personal challenges to pursue their education.

2022 Award Winners: Katrina Rbeiz and Evgeniia Diacheck
2019 Award Winner: Pietra Bruni

Department of Psychology Topping Up Award

The Department of Psychology Topping Up Award is awarded to new incoming graduate students to recognize their outstanding academic record. The amount awarded and the length of the award are variable.

Vivien Casagrande Neuroscience Travel Award

In recognition of outstanding research by a graduate student or postdoctoral scholar. This award honors the outstanding scientific achievements of Professor Casagrande and her dedication to the career of young scientists at the graduate and postdoctoral stages of their career. This was award was established in 2017.

2024 Award Winners: Adriana Schoenhaut & Zhengyang Wang
2023: no award
2022 Award Winner: Jennifer Zachary

Postdoctoral Awards

Bob Fox Award of Excellence in Postdoctoral Research

This award, which is granted to a postdoctoral fellow in our department who has demonstrated outstanding achievement in research, is named in honor of Robert “Bob” Fox for his essential role in guiding the evolution of Vanderbilt’s psychology department over a five-decade period starting in the mid-60’s.

Bob enjoyed a highly productive research career, with publications in major journals and continuous grant funding for decades, and he trained a number of students and postdoctoral students who went on to successful careers themselves. Bob has served as an inspiration to generations of subsequent faculty members. This award not only serves as a humble note of appreciation for Bob’s numerous accomplishments, it also acknowledges the critical role that postdoctoral fellows play in the scientific vibrancy of our department. Postdocs are not only highly skilled, accomplished and dedicated young scientists, they also are reference models for our graduate students and are the first to represent Vanderbilt at the next academic level. The award, established in 2014, is accompanied with a $500 check and a certificate.

2023 Award Winner: Sisi Wang

Alumni Awards

Distinguished Alumnus Award

To recognize and honor the distinguished psychological sciences alumni, we have established the Distinguished Alumnus Lecture. The recipient is a former undergraduate, graduate student, or postdoctoral fellow from the Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Science or the Department of Psychology and Human Development in Peabody College at Vanderbilt who has made major contributions to the psychological sciences. The recipient receives a $500 award and will be invited to give the Distinguish Alumnus Lecture.

2023 Award Winner: Jenn Richler
2021 Award Winner: Ken Catania

Randolph Blake Early Career Award

The Randolph Blake Early Career Award recognized exemplary alumni of our program in the early stages of their career. The recipient receives a plaque, a $500 award, and an invitation to give a research colloquium at Vanderbilt. The nominee must have been an undergraduate, graduate student or postdoc. This award honors Randolph Blake as a distinguished Vanderbilt alumnus, as an outstanding researcher and mentor, and as a former chair of the Department of Psychology who served in that role during some of the most important years of its growth.

2023 Award Winner: Kate Humphreys
2021 Award Winner: Michael Mack
2020 Award Winner: Michael Treadway

Staff Awards

Trisha James Outstanding Staff Award

In recognition of outstanding performance by a departmental staff member. This award honors the exceptional contributions of Trisha James to the Department of Psychology. For more than 20 years, Trisha exhibited the utmost integrity, intelligence, compassion, leadership, dedication and hard work to her various positions in the business office of the department. She set an exemplary standard for all of the department’s staff members. This was award was established in 2016.

2024 Award Winner: Erin Duran
2023 Award Winner: Savannah Crutchfield

Faculty Awards

Psychology Department Award for Innovation in Teaching: Instruction and Course Design.

This award recognizes a faculty member (continuing track, tenure track, or tenured) in the Psychology Department in the College of Arts and Science who models intellectual risk-taking for their (undergraduate and/or graduate) students by effectively employing creative approaches in course design or innovative pedagogical practices. This award was established in 2024.

2024 Award Winner: Adriane Seiffert