The Graduate School is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2025 Dean's Awards, recognizing excellence in mentoring, teaching, and inclusive initiatives.
View the recipients' profiles below, including their thoughts on mentoring and teaching, and accolades shared by their faculty. student, and staff colleagues.
Excellence in Teaching
The Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching recognizes Ph.D. students who best exemplify the characteristics of effective college teaching as they prepare for lives of service, leadership, and teaching.
2025 Recipients
Excellence in Mentoring
The Dean’s Awards for Excellence in Mentoring recognizes the considerable efforts and accomplishments of faculty and graduate students who consistently serve as effective mentors. Designed to allow the university community to identify faculty and graduate students who embody both the letter and spirit of mentoring, these awards are important examples of the university’s continuing efforts to cultivate a culture of mentoring.
2025 Faculty Recipients
2025 Student Recipients
Inclusive Excellence in Graduate Education
The Graduate School created the Dean’s Award for Inclusive Excellence in Graduate Education to acknowledge extraordinary achievements by departments and programs that help create an environment of inclusive excellence in graduate education.
AAHVS Anti-Racism and Social Justice Initiative
The Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies (AAHVS) at Duke established the Anti-Racism and Social Justice Initiative in 2020 amidst the recognition on a national scale that institutions were called upon to respond to increasing social and cultural tensions. The initial goal of the initiative was to confront and dismantle systemic racism within academia and the arts at Duke, reflecting the department’s commitment to fostering inclusivity and justice through concrete actions and sustained conversation.