The Dish Stanford people on the move and in the spotlight

Lyons Awards winners with former dean of students Jim Lyons (photo by Susan Burk)

Eight students have received the James W. Lyons Award for Service for their exceptional contributions to the Stanford community. The James W. Lyons Award for Service was established in 1981 and named in honor of former dean of students JIM LYONS. The award recognizes service contributions made by students from a variety of schools, departments, teams, clubs, residences and community projects.

The 2013 Lyons Award recipients are:

ELISE GEITHNER: Geithner initiated a profound cultural shift within the Greek community and residences related to wellness and body image. She developed the workshop “Am I Good Enough Yet?” in collaboration with Health Promotion Services, which helped engage her sorority. The program has permeated the rest of campus, helping students shift their perspective on body image and other challenging issues.

DIANA GONZALEZ: Gonzalez mentors local youth at the East Palo Alto Stanford Academy and East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring Program. She is a founding member and editor of the publication El Aguila, founding member of Latinos Unidos, member of Mariachi Cardenal, peer advisor at the Haas Center, Mass and ceremony chair for Nuestra Graduación and participant in the Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic and Youth and Education Law Project.

CATHERINE JAN: Jan has helped make the transition to Stanford more welcoming by creating programs for New Graduate Student Orientation (NGSO). As head community associate, she helped the Graduate Life Office enhance the community associate program. Jan was also recognized for her programming contributions with the Graduate Student Council and Women in Electrical Engineering.

BRIAN KOOIMAN: Kooiman enhanced the musicality and reputation of the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band as band manager. Kooiman worked logistical magic to prepare and lead the 280-person organization through appearances at the Tournament of Roses Parade and Rose Bowl Game. He created strong partnerships with offices across campus. His commitment and leadership instilled a greater sense of shared stewardship within the organization.

BRAD MOYLAN: Moylan served as ASSU Elections Commissioner. He also enhanced the football experience by reinvigorating the Big Game Rally as a leader of the Axe Committee. Moylan also mentored student organization leaders as peer adviser for the Student Activities and Leadership office, served on such committees as the Stanford Historical Society Board and helped make the transition to Stanford a memorable experience for the class of 2015 as a freshman transition coordinator.

RICHARD SAPP: Sapp was recognized for his commitment to enhancing the lives of persons with disabilities. Through his innovative student-initiated course (HumBio 25SI) and leadership in Kids with Dreams, he has created youth programs aimed at developing lifelong athletic and social skills, while also providing Stanford students with meaningful mentorship experiences. He is a strong advocate for increased access and opportunities for students and community members with disabilities.

MONA THOMPSON: Thompson served as publicity coordinator for the Women’s Community Center, helped create the center’s femtastic blog and brought humor to discussions of feminism. She served as a peer health educator, social media guru with iThrive@Stanford and counselor, drama coordinator and unit leader for Camp Kesem. Thompson also served as an Urban Studies peer adviser and a project manager for the Sustainable Cities Service-Learning Course, and was an Impact Abroad participant.

NOEMI WALZEBUCK: Described as the “face of sustainability at Stanford,” Walzebuck co-founded the Green Consulting group, which provides sustainable resources and ideas to student organizations during their event planning. Additionally, she has worked with university partners to bring sustainability to the forefront for faculty, staff and students. She was responsible for bringing Al Gore to campus for the inaugural Stephen H. Schneider Memorial Lecture on climate science.

The students were honored at a ceremony and dinner featuring Jim Lyons. The event was hosted by Vice Provost for Student Affairs GREG BOARDMAN and Dean of Student Life CHRIS GRIFFITH.

Visit the website for a list of previous award recipients.

Graduating seniors ASHLEY LYLE, ARACELY MONDRAGON and STEPHEN TRUSHEIM have received the Stanford Alumni Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award for making a significant impact on the Stanford community.

HOWARD WOLF, vice president for alumni affairs and president of the Stanford Alumni Association, announced the award recipients at a reception on May 22.

Stephen Trusheim, Aracely Mondragon, Ashley Lyle and Howard Wolf

Lyle has been a program assistant with the Black Community Services Center, vice president of the nominations committee for the Associated Students (ASSU), vice president of Delta Sigma Theta, president of Stanford Students in Entertainment and a resident assistant. One of her nominators said, “Ashley has shown leadership, drive, charisma, a can-do attitude, a servant’s heart and a different side of Stanford that not many people get to experience.”

Mondragon has been an outreach liaison and active member of the Stanford Immigrant Rights Project, co-chair of the ASSU Community Action Board, an ethnic theme associate at Casa Zapata and a tutor in the East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring Program. She also served on the steering committee for the Student Affairs Community Center Review. Mondragon also co-chaired both MEChA, a Chicano/Latino student organization, and Barrio Assistance. She is the co-founder and co-chair of Hermanas de Stanford. Her award citation recognizers her “for being genuinely respected and admired by her peers, professors, colleagues and mentors and for having that special blend of strength, positivity and grace.”

Trusheim played an integral role with the Stanford Concert Network and the revival of Frost Amphitheater. He served on the ASSU executive team, providing support in finance, elections, governing documents and the nominations committee. He has served as a SAL (Student Activities and Leadership) Peer Advisor and as a member of the Organizational Conduct Board, the Board of Trustees Committee on Academic Planning and Policy and the Class of 2013 Cabinet. One of his nominators said, “It takes a special person to turn visions and dreams into something we did not think would be possible. Stephen is one of those special people who manages to find ways to get good ideas and policies up and running. No matter how tall the task, he has been willing to go the distance.”

The Outstanding Achievement Award was created in 2011 to honor members of the graduating class who have made a significant impact on the Stanford community.

—CARA HANELIN, Stanford Alumni Association

Priya Satia

The American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the nation’s leading private supporter of humanities and social sciences scholarship, has awarded PRIYA SATIA a year-long ACLS Fellowship for her research Guns: The British Imperial State and the Industrial Revolution.

Satia, an associate professor of history, uses the British gun industry to investigate the relationship between 18th-century war and economic development. Her research focuses on the Galton firm of Birmingham, England’s largest gun firm serving both the state and private clients, including slave traders. The Galton family were Quakers who wrestled publicly about the ethics of gun making, highlighting 18th-century notions about war and the economy. Satia, who will be on sabbatical, also received a 2013 National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for the project.

ANDREW BRICKER, a doctoral candidate in English, has received a year-long Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship for his research, titled “Producing and Litigating Satire, 1670-1760.” Bricker’s dissertation reveals how statutory and common law developed at the end of the 17th century and the 18th century to target Augustan satire. Writers and booksellers evaded these legal advances by devising new rhetorical and bibliographic strategies that helped stymie potential prosecutions. Bricker was also recently awarded a Rare Book School fellowship.

—LISA TREI, School of Humanities and Sciences

Ernestine Fu

ERNESTINE FU, a PhD student in civil and environmental engineering, and MARTIN FISCHER, professor of civil and environmental engineering, have been chosen to receive one of the first Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowships.

The fellowship is an international postgraduate fellowship on the circular economy for design, engineering and business students.

Funded by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the Schmidt Family Foundation, the fellowships are designed to challenge postgraduate students and their academic mentors to innovate for a circular economy.

Each student receives a fellowship to help him or her undertake a circular economy innovation project with access to an online learning platform, mentoring support from his or her university and an invitation to a week-long intensive summer school in London in June. Fellowship recipients will share their learning experiences and developing projects on the MacArthur Foundation website.

On the foundation website, Fu explains, “I am a student at Stanford University pursuing a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering. I recently completed my undergraduate and master’s studies in the fields of energy strategy, management science and engineering. With the support of the Schmidt-MacArthur Fellowship, I am excited to create a class focused on circular economy at Stanford, to be taught this upcoming academic year with Professor Martin Fischer.”

Fu has been widely profiled in the media for her work as an entrepreneur, including in Forbes and the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation website, the “circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which materials flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to reenter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere.”

Megan Swezey Fogarty (by Joy Leighton)

At the annual Student Affairs Service Awards breakfast last week, MEGAN SWEZEY FOGARTY received the Margaret Ann Fidler Award for Distinguished Service in Student Affairs.

Fogarty, who first joined Stanford’s staff in 1986, became the director of fellowships and postgraduate public service at the Haas Center for Public Service in 2008.

The award, named for MARGARET ANN FIDLER, former associate vice provost for administration in Student Affairs, recognizes those who “demonstrate extraordinary dedication to their work and the mission of the university and whose work reflects integrity and a sincere belief in the value of teamwork and collaboration.”

The name of the winner is kept secret – revealed only after the citation has been read aloud to the audience. Fidler, who retired in 2001, presented the award.

Fogarty, who was sitting in the audience, said she was trying to figure out the identity of this year’s winner as Fidler read the citation:

“For a unique and natural ability to engage, to build effective relationships and to work collaboratively; for exemplary energy and passion as a champion for the student voice; for challenging and inspiring students to embrace service as an integral part of the Stanford experience; for personally embodying public service as key to a fulfilling life and to effective community involvement; and for ‘WOO’-ing Stanford students, staff and community partners.”

Fogarty said she was “utterly and totally surprised” to receive the award.

“I knew and looked up to Margaret Ann Fidler as both a student and young professional at Stanford,” she said. “To receive this award that honors her legacy is at once a deep honor and extremely humbling.”

Fogarty said “WOO-ing” refers to a “talent theme” identified by StrengthsQuest, a program – used by some units in Student Affairs – designed to help people use their talents to achieve personal and professional success. People strong in the WOO theme enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and winning them over.

Fogarty will join Fidler and previous winners of the award for lunch. She also will receive a $1,000 prize.