Announcements, Awards

Graduate Student Recognized for His Leadership

Rhetoric and Writing PhD Candidate, Brian Hendrickson is one of eight recipients of the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ (AAC&U) 2017 K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award. The award “recognizes graduate students who show exemplary promise as future leaders of higher education; who demonstrate a commitment to developing academic and civic responsibility in themselves and others; and whose work reflects a strong emphasis on teaching and learning.” In recognition, Brian will receive full financial support to attend the January 2017 AAC&U Annual Meeting in San Francisco, where he and the other award winners will speak in a session entitled, “Faculty of the Future: Voices from the Next Generation.”

Dr. Charles Paine nominated Brian for the award, remarking that “Brian’s ambitious dissertation challenges the old academic model of research with what we need to be focusing on today and in the future, and it epitomizes Brian’s identity as the kind of scholar-teacher‐leader the academy needs—one committed to reaching out beyond the ivory towers.” Dr. Cristyn Elder, who wrote an additional letter of support for Brian, further commented, “Brian is a great asset to higher education, his leadership extending beyond his own program, department, and university. He is most deserving of the K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award.” The announcement of his award, and information about him can be found at the Association of American Colleges and Universities’ website.

Over the course of his doctoral studies at UNM, Brian has received a number of scholarships, awards, and grants for his leadership, teaching, and scholarship, and has served in graduate leadership roles in the Council of Writing Program Administrators, International Network of Writing Across Curriculum Programs, and International Society for the Advancement of Writing Research. Brian currently has articles forthcoming in Across the Disciplines, Journal of Business and Technical Communication, and WAC Journal. His dissertation, Invention, Integration, and Engagement With/In an Engineering Student Organization, involves a three-year study of an engineering student organization constructing wells in an indigenous territory in Bolivia. In it, Brian works with the students to reinterpret writing and learning obstacles as opportunities for building partnerships across and beyond the curriculum toward a more holistic approach to rhetorical engagement. Brian currently serves as Writing GA in the Anderson School of Management.

More information on Brian can be found on his professional website, and he can also be found in the UNM Newsroom.