Faculty, Staff, and Student Awards
A snapshot of our faculty, staff, and students' most recent academic and funding awards:
2026 Awards
- Kristin Anders, Associate Professor in HDFS, was nominated and chosen as one of four K-State faculty/staff to be inducted into the Tri-Alpha Honor Society, a national society for first-generation college students. She was nominated by first-generation Tri-Alpha members based on her commitment to and support of first-generation student success at our institution.
- Shandi Andres, Instructor in Family and Consumer Sciences Education, has been selected to receive the Mortar Board Outstanding Faculty/Staff Award. Mortar Board members and their K-State peers nominate faculty and staff for exemplifying the Honor Society's three pillars - service, scholarship, and leadership - in the classroom and around campus.
- Berni Howe Beard, Director of the Center for Child Development, was awarded the National Director Credential from the McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University.
- Abby Crum, B.S. Student in Integrative Human Sciences, was recognized with an award at the College of Health and Human Sciences Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities, and Discovery Forum.
- Graysen Denning, Student in Human Development and Family Science, was selected as an HHS Outstanding Senior.
- Sarah Egbo, PhD Student in Prevention Science, was selected as an Outstanding HHS Graduate Student.
- Jordan Fairchild, Master’s Student in Couple and Family Therapy, was selected as an Outstanding HHS Graduate Student.
- Bronwyn Fees, Associate Dean and Professor of Early Childhood Education, was awarded the Friend of IDEA Award at the IDEA Annual Conference in Kansas City, recognizing Bronwyn’s long-time engagement in, leadership of, and advocacy for the IDEA online degree consortium.
- Anthony Ferraro, Associate School Director and Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Science, has earned promotion to Professor.
- Jennifer Francois, Program Chair and Professor of Practice in Early Childhood Education, was accepted into the 2026-2027 cohort of the national Fred Rogers’ Institute Educators’ Neighborhood. Educators’ Neighborhood is a community of educators whose goal is to learn from the work of Fred Rogers and other educators to inform everyday practice.
- Jennifer Francois, Program Chair and Professor of Practice in Early Childhood Education, and Sheetal Choudhary, PhD Candidate in Prevention Science, were awarded the Janet Sevier Gilbreath Award by the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund for their work on a Governor appointed workgroup that focused on the childcare assistance system in Kansas.
- Michael Glenn, B.S. Student in Public Health with a minor in Gerontology, was recognized with an award at the College of Health and Human Sciences Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities, and Discovery Form for his work with the Gerontology faculty-led Logan research project.
- Adam Hedelund, PhD Student in Couple and Family Therapy, was selected as an Outstanding HHS Graduate Student.
- Elaine Johannes, Extension Specialist and Associate Professor, has earned promotion to Professor.
- Elaine Johannes, Extension Specialist and Associate Professor, received the College of Health and Human Sciences Sharon Y. and Samuel A. Nickols Outstanding Faculty Award.
- Misti Johnson-Olthoff, Instructor in Early Childhood Education, earned her PhD in Prevention Science from Kansas State University.
- Carol Johnston, Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Science, has earned tenure and promotion to Associate Professor.
- Emily Jones, Student in Integrative Human Sciences, was selected as an HHS Outstanding Senior.
- Kara Kunselman, Student in Family and Consumer Sciences Education, was selected as an HHS Outstanding Senior.
- Mindy Markham, Professor and School Director, received the Kansas State University Presidential Award for Outstanding Department Head. (Click here to watch a video of Mindy and the recipients of the Presidential Award for Teaching receive their awards.)
- Anna Nippert, Instructor in Early Childhood Education, received the College of Health and Human Sciences Myers-Alford Teaching Award.
- Jessica Partida, Youth Development Specialist with the 4-H Military Partnership Program, received the College of Health and Human Sciences Outstanding Staff Award.
- Nathalie Segarra-Valle, Master’s Student in Couple and Family Therapy, was selected as an Outstanding HHS Graduate Student.
- Buddy Singer, Junior in Human Development and Family Science, was awarded the Extraordinary Student Award by the Division of Academic Success and Student Affairs.
- Faith Stone, B.S. Student in Human Development and Family Science, was recognized with an award at the College of Health and Human Sciences Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities, and Discovery Forum.
- Michelle Toews, Professor in Human Development and Family Science, was recognized as a recipient of the Roots of Research Award. A tree was planted in Michelle’s honor on the northwest side of Justin Hall.
- Michelle Toews, Professor in HDFS, was selected as the recipient of the K-State First Book Faculty/Staff Award.
- Charissa Trout, Post-bacc PhD Student in Prevention Science, was selected as an Outstanding HHS Graduate Student.
- Charissa Trout, Post-bacc PhD Student in Prevention Science, was recognized with an award at the College of Health and Human Sciences Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities, and Discovery Forum.
- Mehmet Yavuz, Assistant Professor in Conflict Resolution, was accepted into the Kroc Institute Strategic Peacebuilding Academy in 2026, one of the most well-respected programs in Peace and Conflict Studies. The Kroc Institute Strategic Peacebuilding Academy is an annual, thematic, multi-day intensive experience for peace practitioners, scholars, and those working in policy communities around the globe.
- Mehmet Yavuz, Assistant Professor in Conflict Resolution, has been named a Big XII Faculty Fellow for the 2026-2027 academic year and received funding to support his visit to the University of Kansas where he will be hosted by the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies (CREES).
- Mehmet Yavuz, Assistant Professor in Conflict Resolution, had a proposal selected to receive full funding from the College of Health and Human Sciences Exploratory Research Development Award.
2025 Awards
- Kristin Anders, Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Science, has earned tenure and promotion to associate professor
- Kristin Anders, Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Sciences, was recognized as Professor of the Week at at a K-State men’s home basketball game.
- Shandi Andres, Family and Consumer Sciences Education Instructor and FCCLA State Advisor, was recognized as Educator of the Year by the Kansas Association of Career and Technical Educators at the annual conference.
- Ariana Castillo, Student in Human Development and Family Science, was selected as an HHS Outstanding Senior.
- Hazel DeWee, Doctoral Student in Couple and Family Therapy, was selected as an Outstanding HHS Graduate Student.
- Jared Durtschi, Professor in Couple and Family Therapy, was awarded the College of Health and Human Sciences Hulsing Mentoring Prize. This award recognizes a faculty member for exceptional mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students in all areas of leadership.
- Jared Durtschi and Jared Anderson, Professors in CFT, received a HHS Pilot Award to support their project titled, “Oxytocin-Augmented Couples Therapy for Distressed Couples to Enhance Relationships and Mental Health.”
- Bronwyn Fees, Professor and Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs, was recognized as Policy Maker of the Year by the Kansas Association of Career and Technical Educators at the annual conference.
- Briana Nelson Goff, Professor in Conflict Resolution, was recognized as an inaugural recipient of the Roots of Research Award. A tree was planted in Briana’s honor on the southeast side of Justin Hall.
- Karlyn Gustin, Student in Gerontology, was selected as an HHS Outstanding Senior.
- Alisha Hardman, Program Chair and Associate Professor in HDFS, was named a second-place winner of the 2025 Cognella Innovation in Teaching Awards for Family Science. She received this award at the National Council on Family Relations conference.
- Rheagan Harp, Master’s Student in Communication Sciences and Disorders, was selected as an Outstanding HHS Graduate Student.
- Julie James, Student in Early Childhood Education, was selected as an HHS Outstanding Senior.
- Elaine Johannes, Extension Specialist and Associate Professor, was selected as a University Honors Program Gand Challenge Teams Faculty Fellow.
- Elaine Johannes and Erin Martinez, Extension Specialists and Associate Professors, were key to the university being awarded the Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Program. Kansas State University is projected to receive $24 million over 5 years for this initiative. You can read more about this here with more information forthcoming: Helping Kansas Transform Rural Health.
- Erin Martinez, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, moved into a leadership role at K-State serving as the Interim Associate Director for Extension Programs.
- Emily Matthews, Student employee in Couple and Family Therapy and Communication Sciences and Disorders, was selected as one of the 5 K-State Students for the 2025 Kyle Pelton Student Employee of the Year Award. This award acknowledges the reliability, quality of work, initiative, professionalism, and commitment to the principles of the Wildcat Way our students have that make our K-State family great. Avery Schmidt, master’s student in Communication Sciences and Disorders, and Moloud Sivandian, doctoral student in Couple and Family Therapy, were also nominated for the award.
- Kari Morgan, Teaching Associate Professor and Program Chair, received the Faculty Excellence Award at the IDEA conference for her work in the Family and Community Services master’s program.
- Taylor Nading, PhD student in Prevention Science, had a presentation titled “Training Together: Using IPE to Build Bridges for Collaborative Dysphagia Management” designated as a Meritorious Poster Submission for the 2025 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention.
- Grace O’Toole, Doctoral Candidate in Prevention Science, was selected as an Outstanding HHS Graduate Student.
- Grace O’Toole, Doctoral Candidate in Prevention Science, received a HHS Dissertation Support Award to support their dissertation titled, “Queering consent: Changing the ‘norm’ in consent education.”
- Kristin Pelczarski, Associate Professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders, was awarded the College of Health and Human Sciences Research Pilot Project Award in collaboration with Julio Cesar Hernandez Pavon in Psychological Sciences for their project titled Exploring Neurological Changes in Adults who Stutter Using Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation.
- Rick Peterson, Associate Director for Extension Programs, and Kari Morgan, Program Chair and Teaching Associate Professor for IHS, were awarded an Applied Learning Experiences Grant for their project Kansas State Research and Extension Applied Learning.
- Laura Rausch, Department of Applied Human Sciences Program Coordinator, was awarded the College of Health and Human Sciences Outstanding Staff Award. This award recognizes and rewards the outstanding achievement and performance of a staff member in the college.
- David Rehfeld, Assistant Professor in Communication Sciences and Disorders, received funding from the National Science Foundation for a 2.5-year project aimed at increasing graduate enrollment and retention for marginalized groups in STEM fields.
- Noah Renken, Master’s student in Couple and Family Therapy, won a 2025 K-GRAD award for his poster presentation titled, “An examination of gender differences across intimate partner violence and animal abuse. Chelsea Spencer, Research Assistant Professor in Couple and Family Therapy, serves as Noah’s faculty mentor.
- Moloud Sivandian, CFT PhD student, was elected to the National Council on Family Relations Student/New Professional Representative position for the Family Therapy section.
- Sharaden Staten, Prevention Science PhD student, was elected to the National Council on Family Relations Student/New Professional Representative position for the Family and Community Education section.
- Katie Thompson-Laswell, Senior Instructor in Human Development and Family Science, was awarded the 2025 Commerce Bank and W. T. Kemper Foundation Undergraduate Outstanding Teaching Award. This award recognizes excellence in undergraduate teaching. Please watch this video of her and other recipients being surprised with the award in their classes.
- Amber Vennum, Professor in Couple and Family Therapy, and Michelle Toews, Professor and Program Chair in Human Development and Family Science, were awarded a Launch Accelerator Grant to support their work with the #RelationshipGoals Project.
- Joyce Baptist, Professor in Couple and Family Therapy, received funding from the EMDR Foundation for her proposal titled (Re)Defining EMDR.
- Sarah Egbo, Prevention Science Doctoral Student, was awarded the International Fellowship from the American Association of University Women.
- Anthony Ferraro, Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Science, and Kristin Anders, Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Science were awarded a University Small Research Grant and the College of Health and Human Sciences Exploratory Research Development Award to support their research.
- Alisha Hardman, Associate Professor in HDFS, was recognized at the 2024 National Council on Family Relations conference with the Dawn Cassidy Certified Family Life Educator Special Recognition Award.
- Carol Johnston, Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Science, was elected Chair Elect of the Feminism and Family Science Section of the National Council on Family Relations.
- Carol Johnston, Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Science, was designated a Big XII Faculty Fellow for the 2024-2025 academic year and received funding to support her to visit the University of Texas at Austin to collaborate with colleagues.
- Elaine Johannes, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, has joined the Champion Team of eight academic health centers for the Engage for Equity PLUS: Testing Engagement Strategies to Promote Trustworthy Academic Institutions and Greater Diversity and Capacity for Patient and Community Leadership in Research. This project is funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute Science of Engagement.
- Emily Jones, undergraduate student in Integrative Human Sciences, was selected as one of two 2025 Kansas State University Student Ambassadors.
- Erin Martinez, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, was awarded a grant from the National Council on Aging to pursue innovative approaches to older adult falls prevention.
- Erin Martinez, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, became first in Kansas to be designated an Age Friendly Public Health Systems Champion by Trust for America’s Health.
- Amber Vennum, Professor in Couple and Family Therapy, was elected to Chair-Elect of the Intervention Research in Systemic Family Therapy Topic Interest Network for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy.
- Mehmet Yavuz, Assistant Professor in Conflict Resolution, was awarded the 2024-2025 Peace and Justice Association Research Grant to support his research.
- Brooke Balderson, doctoral student in the Couple and Family Therapy program, was one of 10 winners of Research and the State, a poster forum for K-State graduate students. Her presentation was titled, “How the Role of Self of the Therapist Work in Supervision Impacts Therapeutic Growth and Development.” Brooke will now represent K-State at the Capitol Graduate Research Summit in Topeka in March 2024.
- Jennifer Francois, Professor of Practice in Early Childhood Education, shared that as part of her work with KCCTO their new Infant-Toddler Specialist Network projects were renewed for $1.7 million for a 2nd year. This project is funded by the Kansas Department for Children and Families and is part of our larger Infant-Toddler Specialist Network program. It supports technical assistance and training for childcare providers in 2 areas: 1) supporting children with disabilities in childcare and 2) infant and early childhood mental health.
- Alisha Hardman, Associate Professor in HDFS, has been elected as the new Affiliate Councils president-elect to represent the Affiliate Councils on the National Council on Family Relations.
- Alisha Hardman, Associate Professor of HDFS/Prevention Science, was featured in the Emmy award winning film “On the Farm” from Mississippi State University: https://www.films.msstate.edu/series/on-the-farm
- Elaine Johannes, Extension Specialist and Associate Professor, has received three major awards this fall semester, recognizing her outstanding engagement in the area of community health.
- Elaine Johannes received the Samuel J. Crubmine Medal from the Kansas Public Health Association. Dating back to 1946, the Samuel J. Crubmine Medal, KPHA’s highest award, has been given for meritorious service and state, regional, or national recognition related to the improvement of the health of Kansans and/or the environment of the state.
- Elaine Johannes was also recognized with the 2023 North Central Region Award for Individual Excellence in Extension from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Cooperative Extension, and the Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities.
- Lastly, Elaine Johannes was awarded the Outstanding Engagement Award by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities Board on Health and Human Sciences. This award recognizes a campus-based or state-level faculty member with exceptional creativity and scholarship in the development, application, and evaluation of outreach, Extension, and public service programs.
- Elaine Johannes, Extension Specialist and Associate Professor, and colleague, Priscilla Brenes, received $120,000 in grant funding from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s Community Clinical Linkages Program to prevent diabetes among Kansans through the implementation of the National Diabetes Program.
- The Kansas State Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association, the organization for students in the Communication Sciences and Disorders program, was awarded 2023 Bronze Chapter Honors by the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association.
- Brett Mallon, Conflict Resolution Program Chair, was invited to be a co-editor for a special issue of the Journal of Ethnic Studies, which was published earlier this year. The focus of the issue is a reflection on the Northern Ireland peace process and the Good Friday Agreement, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. In addition to co-editing, Brett also contributed two co-authored articles that were included in the special issue.
- Bradford Wiles, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist, provided an interview for KSNT about access to quality, affordable, early childhood care and education in Kansas.
- Bradford Wiles’ ARCHER (Applied Research in Child Health and Enhancing Resilience) lab signed a contract for $23,582 with Reno County Head Start/USD 308 to conduct their 5-year community assessment in preparation for their next 5-year grant application. This contract has funded a graduate student for the 23-24 academic year.
- Anthony Ferraro, Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Science, was named the recipient of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) Board on Human Sciences 2022 Undergraduate Research Mentor Award. The award recognizes a faculty member in human sciences for exceptional performance as a research mentor to undergraduate students.
- Anthony Ferraro, Associate Professor in Human Development and Family Science, was awarded the College of Health and Human Sciences Hulsing Mentoring Award, recognizing his exceptional mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students.
- Elaine Johannes, Kansas Health Foundation Distinguished Professor of Community Health and Extension Specialist, has received several recent grants and contracts to support health-related community engagement projects, including supporting vaccination education projects, building a network of Extension professionals to provide grant writing assistance to local communities, and replenishing the Kansas public health workforce through scholarships and internships or K-State’s Master of Public Health students.
- Kari Morgan, Teaching Associate Professor in Integrative Human Sciences, was selected as the recipient of one of two 2022 K-State Global Campus Excellence in Online Teaching awards. This award is given to a faculty member who has provided outstanding online teaching, course development, mentoring of students, and service to the field of continuing education.
- Kari Morgan, Teaching Associate Professor in Integrative Human Sciences, was awarded the College of Health and Human Sciences Dawley-Scholar Award for Faculty Excellence. The award recognizes outstanding achievement in the area of student development resulting in the personal, professional, and educational growth of one or more undergraduate and/or graduate students.
- Chelsea Spencer, Research Associate Professor, was awarded the College of Health and Human Sciences Faculty Research Excellence Award for superior accomplishment in research, scholarly activities, and discovery.
- Amber Vennum, Associate Professor in Couple and Family Therapy leads Relevate, a multidisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners who make research-based information about interpersonal relationships accessible to all. The Relevate team won the Priester Award for Innovation at the National Health Outreach Conference.
- Bradford Wiles and Anthony Ferraro, Associate Professors in Human Development and Family Science, were awarded a $200,000 grant from Child Care Aware of Kansas to provide guidance and resources in conducting community-level child care-related needs assessments to local coalitions in need of support.
Additional Information
Learn more about internal research awards and other internal and external funding opportunities within the College of Health and Human Sciences.