Hannah Croasdale Award

The Hannah Croasdale Award for academic excellence is awarded annually to the graduating PhD recipient who best exemplifies the qualities of a scholar.

Awarding Academic Excellence

This individual possesses personal qualities of intellectual curiosity, dedication, and commitment to the pursuit of new knowledge and to teaching, as well as a sense of social responsibility to the community of scholars. The award recipient is selected by The Dean of the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies.
 

This award is named in honor of Professor Hannah T. Croasdale who studied and taught for more than 40 years in what is now our Department of Biological Sciences. She began at Dartmouth in 1935 as a Research Technician and retired as a full Professor in 1971. She pioneered the role of female faculty at Dartmouth by being the first woman to become a full Professor in the Arts and Sciences and to obtain tenure. As Professor Emerita, she continued to teach her beloved Phycology course until 1978. Her distinguished career has been recognized by numerous honors including a summer graduate student fellowship named in her honor by the Phycological Society of America and a scholarship at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole. Hannah Croasdale was a freshman in high school in rural Pennsylvania when women were granted suffrage. She went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania, graduating with a BS in 1928, an M.S. in 1931, and a PhD in 1935. She passed away on July 27, 1999 at the age of 93. Her career served as an inspiration for generations of students, and ignited a love for science and curiosity for learning in countless of today's leading biologists.

Nomination Process

The Graduate office requests a single nomination from each graduate program in the College by May 15. The award will be included in the Commencement Program.

Your nomination should include:

  1. A letter of nomination
  2. A copy of the student's thesis abstract, or draft thereof
  3. The student's CV

Award Winners

  • 2021: Xingru Chen (Mathematics)
  • 2020: Katharine von Herrmann (PEMM) and Amogha Tadimety (Engineering)
  • 2019: Balint Kacsoh (Molecular and Cellular Biology)
  • 2018: Daryl Deford (Mathematics) and Hai Qian (Chemistry)
  • 2017: Justin M. Kim (Psychological & Brain Sciences)
  • 2016: Carolyn Parkinson (Psychological & Brain Sciences); Vivek Vankataraman (Biological Sciences)
  • 2015: Robert Chavez (Psychological & Brain Sciences); Maria Hindt (Molecular & Cellular Biology)
  • 2014: Robert Holt (Physics and Astronomy)
  • 2013: April Daigle Lewoczko (Chemistry) and Laurel B. Symes (Ecology and Evolutional Biology)
  • 2012: Matthew Cain (Chemistry) and Michael Hopkins (Psychological and Brain Sciences)
  • 2011: Dylan Wagner (Psychological and Brain Sciences) and Dan Milisavljevic (Physics and Astronomy)
  • 2010: Jian Yuan (Chemistry)
  • 2009: Geoff Goehle (Mathematics)
  • 2008: Leah H. Somerville (Psychological and Brain Sciences)
  • 2007: William G. O'Neal (Chemistry)
  • 2006: Gagandeep S. Wig (Psychological and Brain Sciences)
  • 2005: Matthew J. Wargo (MCB Biological Sciences) and Nathan Ryan (Mathematics)
  • 2004: Jay Lennon (Biological Sciences)
  • 2003: Todd Michael (MCB-Biological Sciences)
  • 2002: Jennifer Tickle (PBS)
  • 2001: Michael Orrison (Mathematics)
  • 2000: Katie Vohs (PBS)
  • 1999: Albin Jones (Mathematics) and Kristin McAdams (Physics and Astronomy)
  • 1998: Melody Burkins (Earth Sciences)
  • 1997: Mikki Hebl (Psychology)
  • 1996: Amy Warren (Chemistry)
  • 1995: Victor Marchenko (Physics and Astronomy)
  • 1994: Wesley Jones (Physics and Astronomy), Eric Miler (Earth Sciences), and Celia Chen (Biological Sciences)
  • 1993: Harold Smith (Earth Sciences) and Marsha Pilgrim (Biological Sciences)