The College of Letters and Science is proud to announce the 2026 faculty awards. These awards honor faculty for exceptional achievement in research innovation, faculty mentoring faculty, faculty mentoring students and community and connection. These new awards, which join the college's teaching awards, honor outstanding attainments in other areas central to our mission.
Faculty Mentoring Students Awards
This year we had a large number of highly deserving nominees from which we selected three winners, one in each of the college’s historical divisions.
Anujit Chakraborty
Associate Professor of Economics
Anujit Chakraborty demonstrates outstanding commitment to students from large core classes to one-on-one dissertation advising. He has created new opportunities for undergraduate research in economics and mentors a large number of individual research projects. He has also led the Underrepresented Minorities in Economics Society, a group for undergraduates in his department. Chakraborty is an in-demand advisor of graduate students known for his combination of expertise and kindness as a mentor.
Claire Goldstein
Professor of French, Humanities Program Director and Undergraduate Faculty Advisor for French
Claire Goldstein was nominated for this award by 18 undergraduates and eight graduate students, a sign of her deep dedication to many students at different stages of their education. In their nominations, students describe how she goes out of her way to create community among students and to bring them together for extracurricular engagement with French language and culture. She has introduced students to new opportunities and helped them prepare for new challenges. Students describe her as having an open door and a listening ear.
Eugene Gorskiy
Professor of Mathematics
Students describe Eugene Gorskiy as having exceptional abilities in mentoring students’ research as well as their professional development. All of his nominators describe his generosity in giving his time to students and in providing them with expert individualized mentoring. His wholehearted and unconditional support gives students the confidence they need to succeed, and his graduate students have an excellent record of placement thanks in part to the time and care that he devotes to them.
Faculty Mentoring Faculty Award
Dean Tantillo
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
Dean Tantillo was nominated for this award by five of his junior colleagues in the Department of Chemistry, all of whom described his “behind-the-scenes dedication” to mentoring assistant professors and early- to mid-career faculty in his department. He meets with these faculty regularly and shares honest advice and practical strategies for their success at UC Davis. Colleagues describe him providing feedback on merit statements, inviting them to collaborate on grant proposals, nominating them for awards and even sharing space with a colleague in need. One writes, “He does this entirely of his own accord and does not seem to receive any credit for it.” Another notes, “He leads by example, and in doing so, inspires many of us to think more intentionally about how we support one another.”
Research Innovation Award
Joss Greene
Assistant Professor of Sociology
Joss Greene's forthcoming book discusses the management of trans prisoners and trans prisoners’ gendered self-presentation from the 1950s to the present. The project is based on 136 interviews with incarcerated trans people, who are hard to reach and difficult to identify, along with ethnographic observation and archival research. This innovative and difficult research has led to pathbreaking new sociological understandings of a uniquely vulnerable, and hidden, population. As Greene’s nominators explain, his “methods and contributions … bridge the divide between academic scholarship and community engagement,” and show how “the methods of qualitative sociology … can inform the professional practices of medicine and psychology.”
Community and Connections Award
This year we have two co-winners.
Chris Hanssmann
Associate Professor of Gender, Sexuality, & Women's Studies and Chair of the Feminist Theory and Research Designated Emphasis
Chris Hanssmann's nominators emphasized his excellent work in three areas: as co-chair of the L&S Committee on Community and Inclusive Excellence, as chair of the Feminist Theory and Research designated emphasis and as co-director of a three-year Mellon initiative on trans freedom and trans liberation. In all these roles, Hanssmann helps create opportunities for meaningful dialogue across disciplines and across the college, as well as multiple spaces for inclusion and community. At the heart of Hanssmann’s community building are his generous spirit and deep propensity for listening.
Lloyd Knox
Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Michael and Ester Vaida Endowed Chair in Cosmology and Astrophysics
Lloyd Knox received five different nomination letters for this award, all attesting to his work building community in his department, in L&S and beyond. In the Department of Physics & Astronomy, Knox reinvigorated the Community Committee, which organizes events to build a sense of connection for faculty and students. He also runs his department’s alumni seminar, which maintains ties between the department’s alumni and current students. In the college, he successfully chaired the Strategic Vision Workgroup on Alumni, and he is also serving on the 75th Anniversary planning committee. He also reaches beyond UC Davis to create connection in the wider community through the Cosmic Connections program, through which he engages with civic and church groups throughout the region to educate the public about the cosmos.
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