9 Grad Students Honored with K. Patricia Cross Award

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has announced the 2024 recipients of the annual K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award.

A past annual conference hosted by the American Association of Colleges and Universities.“This year’s recipients truly embody the commitment to excellence in teaching, scholarship, leadership, and civic engagement that Pat Cross championed throughout her distinguished career,” said AAC&U President Dr. Lynn Pasquerella. “We are thrilled to honor their achievements, and we look forward to the many ways in which they will shape the future of higher education.”

The 2024 K. Patricia Cross Award — in honor of the legacy of distinguished university administrator, researcher, and teacher K. Patricia Cross — recognizes graduate students who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education and who are committed to academic innovation in the areas of equity, community engagement, and teaching and learning.

The nine 2024 recipients are: Oumarou Abdoulaye Balarabe, higher education and student affairs, Ohio University; Tabatha Cruz, organizational leadership, policy, and development, University of Minnesota; Anisha Gupta, preservation studies, University of Delaware; Anuj Gupta, rhetoric, composition, and the teaching of English, University of Arizona; Leah Harmon, neuroscience, Yale University; Bethany Kaser, English, Duquesne University; Mayra Nuñez Martinez, school organization and education policy, University of California, Davis; Guerdiana Thelomar, community psychology, University of Miami; and Teresa Piedad Torres, microbe host interactions, Vanderbilt University.

The K. Patricia Cross Award is open to all doctoral-level graduate students who are planning a career in higher education, regardless of academic department, and have been nominated by a faculty member or administrator. Graduate students in fields where the master’s degree is the terminal degree are also eligible.

Award recipients were chosen based on demonstrated potential for leadership and innovation in the areas of equity, community engagement, and teaching and learning. This year’s recipients were honored at this year's AAC&U Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.