Sarah Goddard Power Award

Questions?  Contact Tiffany Marra at tmarra@umich.edu, Pat Colemans Burns at pcb@umich.edu, or Marilee Benore at marilee@umich.edu.

Sarah Power was a guiding light for the causes of women’s rights, human rights, education, and press freedom. During her distinguished career, she worked tirelessly as a Regent of the University of Michigan, and to promote women and minorities, including the establishment of women’s intercollegiate athletics in 1975.

Sarah Power believed passionately in the essential goodness of people, and in their desire and potential for contribution and achievement if given a fair opportunity. “My interest in opening up the system is simple. I want us to create reasonable options for all human beings, women and men. I want us to ensure the individual rights by which all persons can develop their potential, which will surely result in improved quality of life for both women and men.”

Sarah Power was also known and respected for her work on the national and international level – with the United Nations, as a presidentially appointed delegate to four worldwide UN conferences, and as Chair of the US National Commission for UNESCO which, she said, is “the only international agency concerned with those immeasurably precious aspects of the human condition – education, science, and culture – which make man what he is.”

Sarah Power was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Social Affairs under President Jimmy Carter. In 1980 she was honored in a joint resolution of tribute by the Michigan Legislature for her work as “one of our State’s most active and most important citizens in her dedication to serving humanity.” She was inducted into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame in 1988.

U-M Law Professor Sallyanne Payton said that the long list of Sarah Power’s accomplishments does not reflect the total impact of her contributions. Rather, she said, the legacy which Sarah Power has left is the strength of her example. “If we can just pass along what she has given to us, that light will go forth from this place.”

Academic Women’s Caucus is pleased to have presented awards to the following recipients:

2023:

Dr. Regina Baucom is an Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Graduate Studies in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at UM. She is an NSF and USDA-funded ecological geneticist whose interdisciplinary work dissects the evolutionary and genetic mechanisms underlying plant persistence to global change. She teaches a large undergraduate genetics course and has led the EEB graduate program during the covid19 pandemic. She has served as primary mentor to 11 women graduate students or postdoctoral researchers and has provided research experiences for over 50 undergraduates in her lab.

In addition to her scholarship, teaching, and service, she has been a strong and vocal advocate for women and other systematically marginalized scientists in ecology and evolution. In collaboration with Meghan Duffy, she co-created DiversifyEEB, a publicly available database of >1800 women and/or other marginalized scientists to help search committees, award committees, and editors of journals build a diverse candidate pool for critical career-building opportunities. Many sister sites were inspired by DiversifyEEB, including DiversifyMicro, DiversifyImmuno, DiversifyChem, DiversifyEarth, and DiversifyPlantSci, highlighting DiversifyEEB’s influence on many scientific subdisciplines.

Dr. Baucom served as inaugural chair of the American Society of Naturalist’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, which performed a demographic study of the evolution tri-societies (Society for the Study of Evolution, American Society of Naturalists, and Society for the Study of Biodiversity), and improved inclusion for historically excluded scientists at the yearly evolution meetings. She helped to develop SafeEvolution, which includes a code of conduct, reporting structures, and consequences for harassment at conferences. As ASN DEI chair, she conceived of the new tri-society Inclusiveness, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) Award for evolutionary biologists who have made critical DEI contributions. 

Her advocacy for women and other marginalized scientists has included formal scholarship on gender bias in publishing and the promotion of women and underrepresented plant biologists at national symposiums and in special journal issues. She has engaged in advocacy via social media, including highly viewed blog posts and podcast interviews on gender bias in the sciences, and by providing commentary on gender discrimination for outlets such as The Scientist.

L. Monique Ward is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, where she has been on faculty for the past 26 years. She is a developmental psychologist whose research examines parental and media contributions to gender and sexual socialization for U.S. youth, with a special focus on gendered sexual scripts and sexual objectification. Her work also explores intersections between gender ideologies, body image, race, and sexuality. She uses a range of methods, including content analyses, surveys, and experiments, to demonstrate that heavier media exposure is associated with greater acceptance of stereotypical gender and sexual roles. Endorsing these roles and scripts has significant implications for young people’s well-being, and is linked to greater psychological distress, diminished sexual agency, and greater acceptance of rape myths and sexualized aggression.

Although her work on these topics has been published in more than 30 different academic journals, she has also worked to compile and disseminate findings to parents, educators, and other stakeholders. She served as a member of the APA Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls and helped produce their widely distributed report. She also worked with Common Sense Media to review and summarize research on media and children’s gender beliefs and as a consultant for their report on media and children’s racial attitudes. She has delivered invited presentations on these topics for policymakers, including a program for Fisher Price and a summit at the Obama White House. She is the recipient of many prestigious national awards including the Distinguished Leader for Women in Psychology Award from the APA Committee on Women in Psychology, APA’s Carolyn Wood Sherif Award for substantial contributions to the psychology of women and gender, and two Ford Foundation fellowships. 

Her service to the field covers numerous issues relevant to the lives of girls and women. She serves as Associate Editor of Psychology of Women Quarterly and was Associate Editor of the APA Handbook of Sexuality and Psychology. Dr. Ward is also a distinguished mentor and teacher. She has chaired 21 dissertations, 32 honors theses, and was the 2020 recipient of the APA Raymond D. Fowler Award for excellence in graduate mentoring.  

Jessica Tischler is an associate professor of organic chemistry in the Department of Natural Sciences at the University of Michigan-Flint. Dr. Tischler started at UM-Flint in 2001 and is the primary instructor of organic chemistry lectures and labs as well as capstone seminar courses. She has held numerous service roles within the department and University including six years as Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

In 2002, she reinstated the Chemistry Club as a Student Affiliate Chapter of the American Chemical Society (ACS). Since then, the club has been continuously recognized by the ACS with a Chapter Award and has received their top award of Outstanding ten times–the level awarded to only the top ~5% of Chapters in the country. Dr. Tischler has proudly served as their advisor for over 20 years and actively works to support students and promote science outreach in their community. 

As a faculty advisor, Dr. Tischler has helped the officers find their voice and confidence as leaders as they work to inspire and motivate their members. It is not by accident that over half of the officers in the club have been women!  This is higher than the number of female officers typically in student government and is higher than the percentage of female chemistry and biochemistry majors.  Several officers have also won recognition from the University as Maize and Blue scholars or Student Involvement and Leadership Awards. 

In 2012, Dr. Tischler was asked to participate in the Michigan ACE Women’s Network discussion group on campus. This group requested Chancellor Persons to create a Women’s Commission (WC) similar to groups that existed on the Dearborn and Ann Arbor campuses. She was asked to be the founding faculty Co-Chair of the UM-Flint Women’s Commission in 2014.  n this role, Dr. Tischler and Rushika Patel, the Staff Co-Chair, served as the Institutional Representatives of the MI-ACE Women’s Network for UM-Flint. 

Dr. Tischler is also an organic chemistry module developer for the ACS-Green Chemistry Institute and currently serves on the Green Chemistry Commitment Advisory Board for Beyond Benign. Therefore, one of her goals is to help spread a greater understanding of science and green chemistry while inspiring others to find their passion for it. She regularly volunteers at science outreach events on campus and in the community so that all kids see women and a diverse group of UM-Flint students represented as scientists. Dr. Tischler highly encourages Chemistry Club members to participate in science outreach through their Demo Squad. This has been an exceptional program to reach out to the community and schools and show all kids that they too can be scientists.  

Technically, UM-Flint is a part of the Detroit Local Section of the ACS, and Dr. Tischler serves as the liaison for the Flint Sub-section to the Detroit Executive Board. In 2017, Dr. Tischler was asked to be a part of an initiative to create an event that could bring together the Detroit and Midland’s ACS section’s Women’s Chemist Committees. They created the Skills Beyond the Bench discussion panel and networking event. Dr. Tischler has continued to host Skills Beyond the Bench, and she is currently planning the 6th annual luncheon to be held in June 2023. The themes of these events have encompassed the following: How to Advance your Career in Industry; Leading with Passion; Mentoring for your Career; Balancing a Scientific Life, Getting to your Goals with Grit; and Diversity in Chemistry. Because of the event’s success in the first year, she was recognized with a Salutes to Excellence Award from the Detroit section of the ACS.

Jenna Wiens, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Co-Director of Precision Health, and Associate Director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (U-M). She joined the faculty at U-M in 2014, after completing her PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology within the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Dr. Wiens heads the ‘Machine Learning for Data-Driven Decisions’ group at U-M, consisting of nearly a dozen PhD students. Her primary research interests lie at the intersection of machine learning, data mining, and healthcare.

Dr. Wiens is a pioneer in leveraging machine learning (ML) and health data for predicting adverse outcomes or events (e.g., infections). Based on collaborations with dozens of clinicians and several hospital systems, she has identified key characteristics for the safe and meaningful adoption of ML in healthcare. This has led to new methodological contributions, impacting the field of ML and new solutions impacting healthcare. As a result, she has published in both high-impact ML and AI venues e.g., ICML, NeurIPS, AAAI, and prestigious journals e.g., The British Medical Journal, Nature Medicine, and the Lancet Digital Health.

Dr. Wiens’ work in machine learning provides theoretical, as well as practical, foundations for actionable, robust, and intelligible models. In healthcare, there is potential for models to learn to not just replicate but amplify existing biases in clinical care, which could in turn harm women and others from marginalized groups. With respect to learning robust models, she has focused on developing novel approaches for mitigating model bias, based on incorporating domain expertise and causal reasoning. Though these techniques can apply broadly across many different tasks, Dr. Wiens is inspired by clinically relevant problems including infectious disease, diabetes, acute respiratory failure, and Alzheimer’s disease among others. Her work in infectious disease has led to the development of accurate models for identifying patients at risk of acquiring infections during their hospital stay and which patients are at greatest risk of complications or deterioration. These models are currently integrated into clinical workflows at Michigan Medicine and are being used to guide clinical care and target interventions.

Beyond her research, Dr. Wiens has also worked to encourage more women and people from underrepresented groups to pursue undergraduate and graduate studies in computer science, a field in which fewer than 25% of Bachelor’s and PhDs are awarded to women. She helped develop Explore Graduate Studies in CSE at U-M, a program that helps undergraduate students navigate the process of applying to graduate programs in computer science. In addition, she has worked with a number of programs that aim to broaden participation in computer science, including CS Kickstart, an annual week-long introduction to computer science for Michigan first-year students who are new to the field; the Big Data Summer Institute, in which over 50% of undergraduate trainees have been women; AI4All; and AI4Good, among others.

Dr. Wiens was named to the MIT Tech Review’s list of Innovators Under 35 in 2017 and recently was awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship in Computer Science. She also serves on the board of Machine Learning for Healthcare, a 501(c)(3) organization, which she helped establish.

2022:

A. Oveta Fuller
Associate Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, U-M Medical School

Reshma Jagsi
Newman Family Professor, Deputy Chair of Radiation Oncology, and Director, Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine

Bhramar Mukherjee
John D. Kalbfleisch Collegiate Professor, Chair of Biostatistics; Professor of Epidemiology and Global Public Health, School of Public Health

2021:

Isis Settles
Professor, Psychology, Afroamerican and African Studies, and Women’s and Gender Studies

Dawn M. Tilbury
Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Sonya Jacobs
Sarah Goddard Power Distinguished Service Awards
Chief Organizational Learning Officer, University of Michigan
Senior Director, Faculty and Leadership Development at Michigan Medicine

Ellen Judge-Gonzalez
Sarah Goddard Power Distinguished Service Awards
Director, SOAR program, University of Michigan-Dearborn

2020:

Cathleen Connell
Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education

Allison Steiner
Professor, Department of Climate and Space Science and Engineering

2019:

Rada Mihalcea
Professor, Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the Michigan Artificial Intelligence Lab

Jody R. Lori
Professor and Associate Dean, Global Affairs, School of Nursing, and Director of PAHO/WHO Collaborating Center for Nursing and Midwifery, School of Nursing

2018:

Kimberlee Kearfott, Sc.D. CHP
Professor, Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences

Sofia Merajver, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor of Internal Medicine and Epidemiology
Scientific Director, Breast Oncology Program Director, Breast & Ovarian Cancer Risk Evaluation Program

2016:

Valeria M. Bertacco, Ph.D.
Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Sally Camper, Ph.D.
James V. Neel Professor and Department Chair of Human Genetics

Patricia W. Coleman-Burns, Ph.D.
Professor of Nursing

Gloria D. Thomas, Ph.D.
Sarah Goddard Power Distinguished Service Award
Director, Center for the Education of Women

2015:

Ann Evans Larimore
Sarah Goddard Power Honorary Award
Professor Emerita, Geography and Women’s Studies

Carol Rossier Bradford, M.D.
Professor and Chair of Otolaryngology, Co-Director, Head and Neck Oncology Program

Lilia M. Cortina
Associate Professor of Psychology, Associate Professor and Graduate Director of Women’s Studies

Dee E. Fenner, M.D.
Furlong Professor of Women’s Health, Director of Gynecology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology

2014:

Dr. Juanita L. Merchant, H. Marvin Pollard Professor of Gastrointestinal Sciences, professor of internal medicine, and molecular and integrative physiology, U-M Medical School

Dr. Lisa A. Newman, Professor of Surgery, U-M Medical School

2013:

Mieko Yoshihama, Ph.D.
Professor, School of Social Work

Avery Demond, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Director,
Environmental and Water Resources Engineering
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Elizabeth Cole, Ph.D.
Professor, Women’s Studies, Psychology, and Afroamerican & African Studies
Chair, Women’s Studies Department

2012:

Cynthia Luz Marcelo
Research emerita professor of surgery, Department of Surgery, Medical School

Deborah Goldberg
Elzada U. Clover Collegiate Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Denise Sekaquaptewa
Professor of Psychology, LSA

Patricia Warner
Executive Director of C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital

2011:

Carolyn Sampselle
Director, Carolyn K Davis Collegiate Professor, School of Nursing, Professor of women’s Studies, LSA and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology

Lori Pierce
Vice Provost of Academic and Faculty Affairs and Professor of Radiation Oncology
Sarah Goddard Power Distinguished Award

Jill Becker
Professor of Psychology and Professor at the Behavioral Neuroscience Institute
Rhetaugh Dumas Progress in Diversity Award The American Culture Department of LSA

2010:

Carol S. Jacobsen
Professor, School of Art and Design and Women’s Studies

Cindy Schipani
Professor of Business Law, Professor of Business Administration, Chair of Law, History and Communication

Elizabeth Ann Duell
Emeritus Professor, Dermatology, the Medical School

2009:

Carol J. Boyd
Director of Institute for Research Women & Gender, Professor of Nursing and Women’s Studies

Cinda-Sue Davis
Program Director of Women in Science and Engineering

Rebecca McGowan
2009 Honorary Sarah Goddard Power Award
Regenta Emerita, University of Michigan

2008:

Suzanne L. Bergeron
Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and Social Sciences; Director of Women’s & Gender Studies

John H. Vandermeer
Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Carol S. Hollenshead
2008 Sarah Goddard Power Distinguished Service
Director of Center for the Education of Women and Chair of President’s Advisory Commission on Women’s Issues

2007:

Karin M. Muraszko Professor and Chair of Neurosurgery, Professor Plastic Surgery, Surgery, Department Communicable Diseases

Martha E. Pollack
Professor and Chair of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Chair of the Division of Computer Science

2006:

Kate Barald
Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Associate Director, PIBS

Carroll Smith-Rosenberg
Professor of History, Women’s Studies and American Studies

2005:

Carol Fierke
Professor of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry

Timothy R. B. Johnson
Professor of Diseases of Women and Children and Obstetrics and Gynecology

Karen Dickinson
2005 AWC Distinguished Service
Relationship Manager Information tech CTR Services distinguished Service Award)

2004:

Mary E. Corcoran
Professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies

Janet R. Gilsdorf
Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Disease and Professor of Epidemiology

Marilee Benore
Associate Professor of Biology and Biochemistry

2003:

Seyhan Nurettin Ege
Professor Emerita, Chemistry

Lora Bex Lempert
Associate Professor of Sociology Aline Souls Associate University Librarian California State University, Hayward

Aline Soules
2003 AWC Distinguished Service
Associate University Librarian
California State University, Hayward

2002:

Noemi G. Mirkin
Assistant Research Scientist Biophysics Research Division

Lisa A. Tedesco
Vice President and Secretary of University of Michigan

2001:

James E. Gruber
Professor of Sociology

Jayne A. Thorson
Assistant Dean for Faculty Affairs, Medical School

2000:

Peggy Kahn
Professor of Political Science, Women and Gender Studies Program; Research Scientist in Center for the Education of Women

Anne W. Monterio
Assistant Dean, College of Engineering

Patricia Shure
Lecturer and Researcher, Mathematics

1999:

Christin Carter-Su
Professor of Physiology; Chief of Biomedical Research Division of Michigan Diabetes Research Training Center

Abigail J. Stewart
Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies, Director of Institute For Research on Women and Gender

1998:

Maria Comninou
Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics

Linda N. Groat
Associate Professor of Architecture

1997:

Joanne Leonard
Professor of Art and Women’s Studies, Faculty Associate in Program in American Culture

Patricia K. Smith
Associate Professor of Economics, Director of Women’s Studies

1996:

Lois W. Gage
Professor Emerita of Nursing

Edie N. Goldenberg
Dean, College of Literature, Science and the Arts, Professor of Political Science and Public Policy

1995:

Mary L. Brake
Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering

Miriam H. Meisler
Professor of Human Genetics

1994:

Patricia Y. Gurin
Professor of Psychology and chair

Susan S. Lipschutz
Associate Provost

1993:

Martha J. Vicinus
Professor of English Language and Literature, and Women’s Studies

1992:

Inese Z. Beitins
Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases

Susan S. Kilham
Associate Professor of Biology and Associate Research Scientist

Virginia B. Nordby
Associate Vice President for Student Affairs

1991:

Janice M. Jenkins
Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Jean P. Krisch
Associate Professor of Physics

Phyllis M. Ocker
Associate Director of Athletics for Women & Assistant Professor of Sports Management and Communications

1990:

Irene H. Butter
Professor of Public Health Policy and Administration

Peggie J. Hollingsworth
Assistant Research Scientist Department of Pharmacology, and Department of Environmental and Industrial Health

1989:

Beth Glover Reed
Associate Professor of Social Work and Women’s Studies

Helen M. Graves
Associate Professor of Political Science

1988:

Jacquelynne S. Eccles
Professor of Psychology and Women’s Studies, Assistant Vice President for Research

Maxine Baca Zinn
Professor of Sociology

1987:

Muriel D. Ross
Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology

Eva Mueller
Professor of Economics

1986:

Jean W. Campbell
Director, Continuing Education for Women

Anita H. Payne
Professor of Biological Chemistry and Obstetrics and Gynecology

Rosemary C. Sarri
Professor of Social Work

1984:

Elizabeth M. Douvan
Professor of Psychology

Rhetaugh G. Dumas
Dean & Professor of Nursing

Marilyn Mason
Professor of Music and University Organist

Harriet C. Mills
Professor of Chinese, Far Eastern Languages and Literature

Barbara Furin Sloat
Director Of Women in Science Program