91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø presented its 2025 awards for equity, research, student achievement and teaching excellence at this year’s Commencement ceremony. Each of the following received a Chancellor’s Medallion:
Chancellor’s Award for Advancing Equity
Praveen Sekhar has devoted his career and his life to ensuring that access and opportunity are recognized, celebrated and advanced on campus and beyond. His commitment to diversity pervades everything he does as teacher, scholar, research scientist, board and committee member, and mentor. He embeds community engagement into his engineering courses. In his research and academic writing, he collaborates with and mentors a wide variety of scholars. He stresses the importance of outreach to make sure more students can pursue STEM degrees. He is an executive board member of iUrbanTeen, a national organization that encourages underrepresented middle and high school students to pursue STEM careers. Sekhar also received the Students’ Award for Teaching Excellence this year.
Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence
Each year, 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø gives its highest research honor to recognize a faculty member’s exemplary research quality and quantity as well as positive influence on the broader community. Kristin Lesseig has earned a national reputation in such areas as mathematical argumentation, teacher learning and equity, and her work has influenced how mathematics is taught. Her goal, broadly, is to make math more approachable and help students not to fear it but to become more confident in using math in their everyday lives. Her research also aims to diversify and strengthen the mathematics teacher workforce to better meet the needs of today’s students—a great need in Washington state and elsewhere.
Chancellor’s Award for Student Achievement
To her teachers, Faith Yang is a model student, an active class participant who is always prepared with incisive questions. To her mentor at Woodburn Elementary School in Camas, Wash., where she did her student teaching, she is becoming a model teacher as well. Yang grew up in Vancouver and enrolled at 91³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏÍø in 2022, after studying at Clark College and Whatcom Community College. She felt called to become a teacher. True to her calling, Yang displays a curiosity for learning and regularly visits her professors to ask critical questions. She has maintained high grades and is seen as a leader among her peers. In short, her teachers say, Yang is the kind of student who makes classes better.
Students’ Award for Teaching Excellence
Students recognized Praveen Sekhar for this award because of his adaptive teaching style, genuine compassion and unwavering dedication. Students praise his extraordinary commitment to their success and meaningful communication—whether addressing academics or simply ensuring each student receives the support to thrive both inside and outside the classroom. He cultivates an inclusive learning environment, tailoring his approach to each student’s needs with kindness, empathy and mentorship.