Graduate school of arts and sciences

Dissertation prizes awarded

This year’s recipients of the Porter and Field Prizes for student dissertations are Bench Ansfield ’21PhD (American studies), Stefano Daniele ’20PhD (neuroscience), and Zuri Sullivan ’20PhD (immunobiology).

The John Addison Porter Prize is given for a written work of scholarship in any field in which it is possible—through original effort—to gather and relate facts, principles, or both, and to make the product of general human interest.  The award was established in honor of Professor Porter, who received a bachelor’s degree from Yale in 1842. The Theron Rockwell Field Prize is given for “a poetic, literary, or religious work” of scholarship or creative writing. The award was established in 1957 by Emilia R. Field in memory of her husband, Theron Rockwell Field, 1889S.

These prize competitions are unusual in being open to all students enrolled at the university for a degree. Separate prizes are awarded by faculty judges to entries by undergraduates and by graduate and professional students.

Graduate mentors honored

The Graduate Mentor Award recognizes faculty members who are exceptional in fostering the intellectual, professional, and personal development of their students. It is the university’s principal award for superb teaching, advising, and mentoring of graduate students.

Each year a selection committee, comprising previous Graduate Mentor Award winners and delegates from the Graduate Student Assembly and the Graduate School, receives scores of letters from graduate students and alumni nominating outstanding mentors from across our campus. 

The following GMA winners were recognized at the 2021 GSAS commencement ceremony on Old Campus on May 23. In the humanities: Jennifer Raab, associate professor in the history of art; in natural sciences: Gary Brudvig, Benjamin Silliman Professor of Chemistry; and in the social sciences: Kelly Shue, professor of finance.

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