Continuing with our celebration of this year’s CALS Awards recipients, we are sharing information about the winners of the CALS Community Builder Awards and Excellence in International Activities Award this week.

CALS Community Builder Awards

Tom Browne

Tom Browne is a senior assistant dean in Academic Affairs. He focuses on student engagement, helping to facilitate activities and resources designed to foster a positive sense of belonging, including overseeing the over 40 CALS-sponsored student organizations. Tom strives to be an advocate, resource and supporter for all students, and his deep care and personalized connections make a great impact on their lives every day.

Christelle Guedot

Christelle is an associate professor in the Department of Entomology and is a strong advocate for equity and inclusion in her lab, on campus and in her department. She has helped lead initiatives, working tirelessly to promote and build a safe and inclusive work culture. She created a framework that elevates and recognizes student voices and actively encourages participation and feedback from other members of the community.

Priya Mukherjee

Priya is an assistant professor for the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. She actively engages in improving community through her research and teaching, which focuses on the political economy, education and health in less developed countries. She is willing to do anything possible to advance the academic and professional climate of the department.

Excellence in International Activities Award

Guanming Shi

Guanming is a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, the Renk Agribusiness Chair, and recently ended her service as the first female department chair. She helped the department establish partnerships with 18 top international universities, and she worked with the Visiting International Student Program (VISP) to establish an AAE VISP thematic track, allowing top universities in China to send students to study at UW. She also started the AAE alumni global hub network to strengthen the alumni connections globally.