University News

New Fellowship Program Recognizes 15 ‘Rising Star’ Faculty Members

By Jerilyn Teahan, jaf7h@Virginia.edu

May 25, 2023

The University has created a new fellowship program to highlight the work of “rising star” faculty members. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)

A new University of Virginia program announced this week has awarded 15 faculty members with fellowships to honor what Executive Vice President and Provost Ian Baucom called their “groundbreaking research” and “commitment to service” to the University.

The first group of Shannon Center Mid-Career Fellows represents faculty from nine of the University’s schools. The fellowship honors tenured faculty members who have made significant contributions to their departments and schools, but are not yet chairholders of endowed professorships.

“With the launch of the Shannon Mid-Career Fellows program, we are taking an important step to foster excellence and build an interdisciplinary community of distinguished scholars who are rising leaders in their schools and their fields,” Baucom said. “Our first cohort is remarkable, and I am delighted that we are able to support their continued progress in their careers here at UVA.”

Nominated by their deans, these are the fellowship’s first recipients:

Stephen Baek, School of Data Science.
A.D. Carson, College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.
Mete Civelek, School of Medicine.
Bimal Desai, School of Medicine.
Jon Goodall, School of Engineering and Applied Science.
John Holbein, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.
Melissa Kendall, School of Medicine.
Kisha Lashley, McIntire School of Commerce.
Matthew Lazzara, School of Engineering and Applied Science.
Suzanne Moomaw, School of Architecture.
Angel Adams Parham, College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.
Rebecca Pompano, College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.
Lana Swartz, College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences.
Rachel Wahl, School of Education and Human Development.
Ishan Williams, School of Nursing.

“They are an incredibly impressive group,” Baucom said. The new fellowship, he said, is part of the University’s commitment to “attracting outstanding faculty members to the University and making this community the place where rising stars want to build and sustain their academic careers.”

Excellence Here Goes Everywhere, To Be Great and Good In All We Do

The fellows will serve three-year terms. Each year, deans will nominate a new group of faculty members for the fellowship, supported through the University’s Shannon Center for Advanced Studies. The center, named for former UVA president Edgar F. Shannon Jr., has bolstered University faculty for nearly six decades.