Winners of the University of Washington Bothell's 2017 Faculty Mentor Award are Lauren Lichty, assistant professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences, and Victoria Breckwich Vasquez, assistant professor in the School of Nursing & Health Studies.
Photo: Chancellor Wolf Yeigh, with Mentor Award winner Victoria Breckwich Vasquez, and Charlotte Rasmussen, director of undergraduate research.
Chancellor Wolf Yeigh presented the awards Friday during the seventh annual Undergraduate and Creative Practice Symposium at the Activities and Recreation Center. The symposium showcased the work of 165 students through 72 posters, nine oral presentations and six art exhibits. Some students from Cascadia College participated in the event.
This is the second year for the faculty mentor award, officially called the Chancellor’s Distinguished Undergraduate Research and Creative Practice Mentor Award. It honors faculty who exemplify the University of Washington Bothell’s commitment to hold the student-faculty relationship paramount. Each award comes with $2,000.
After accepting her award, Breckwich Vasquez said she sees her research work with students as a vehicle for social action and emancipation.
“I think of mentoring as working with and learning through students,” said Breckwich Vasquez who arrived at UW Bothell in 2015.
Appearing at the symposium through a video hookup, Lichty praised her own college mentors and the environment she found at UW Bothell, where “research can facilitate change.”
“Thank you for being a different kind of university,” said Lichty, who began working at UW Bothell in 2013. “Our job, our privilege is to see the whole student, the whole person in front of us,” ensuring their intellectual and personal growth.
Wolf Yeigh with Kyra Laughlin who was mentored by Lauren Lichty, on screen. (Marc Studer photos)
