Montana State honors faculty achievements with 2025-2026 Founders Day Faculty Awards

BOZEMAN - Dedicated faculty, staff and researchers from across Montana State University were honored this semester with the university's annual Founders Day Faculty Awards. The awards - which coincide with the anniversary of MSU's founding on Feb. 16, 1893 - highlight achievements in research, outreach, teaching and community engagement.

"Our faculty are the engine of Montana State University's teaching, research and outreach mission," said Robert Mokwa, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost. "The Founders Day awards highlight individuals whose work strengthens student success, advances knowledge and fulfills our land-grant mission in powerful ways."

The 2025-2026 Founders Day Awards, honorees, and their colleges or academic units are:

• Academic Advising Award: Jessi Peterson, Department of Food Systems, Nutrition and Kinesiology

• Charles and Nora L. Wiley Award for Meritorious Research (Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences): Gretchen Minton, Department of English

• Charles and Nora L. Wiley Award for Meritorious Research (Physical Sciences): Jiong Qiu, Department of Physics

• Charles and Nora L. Wiley Award for Meritorious Research (Health, Education and Business): Elizabeth Rink, Department of Human Development and Community Health

• Cox Faculty Award for Creative Scholarship and Teaching: Galen Brokaw, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

• Excellence in Online Teaching Award: Deborah Rinio, Department of Education

• Excellence in Open Education Award: Tony Hartshorn, Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences

• Excellence in Outreach Award: Jeffrey Conger, School of Art

• Fox Faculty Award for Accomplishments in Teaching, Research/Creative Activity: Dilpreet Bajwa, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

• James and Mary Ross Provost's Award for Excellence: William Wetzel, Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences

• Marley-Maben Native and Indigenous Peoples Leadership Award: Vanessa Simonds, Department of Human Development and Community Health

• Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Anna K. Fridley Distinguished Teaching Award: Sean Yaw, Gianforte School of Computing

• Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Anna K. Fridley Distinguished Teaching Award: Paola Torres Huayhualla, Department of Modern Languages and Literatures

• President's Award for Championing Campus Values: Danielle Ulrich, Department of Ecology

• President's Excellence in Teaching Award: Carla Riedel, Department of Physics

• Provost's Award for Graduate Research/Creativity Mentoring: Christine Foreman, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

• Provost's Award for Undergraduate Research/Creativity Mentoring: Madison Myers, Department of Earth Sciences

• Teaching Innovation Award: Nicholas Childs, Department of Physics

• Vice President for Research's Award for Meritorious Technology/Science: Elizabeth Johnson, Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing.

More information is available online at https://www.montana.edu/facultyawards.