Friday, December 17 — 1 P.M. Pages

Michelle M. Sauer

Since joining the Department of English faculty in 2008, Michelle M. Sauer’s teaching and extensive research have focused on medieval literature, theology and history as well as linguistics and gender and women’s studies. As one colleague nominating Sauer for the distinction wrote: “Michelle’s scholarly influence is on a national and international scale; she puts UND on the map for her extensive work in medieval studies that crosses disciplinary boundaries of English history, languages, religion, queer studies and gender studies.” An active and respected scholar in these fields, Sauer’s role as a professor is also highly lauded as being dedicated to undergraduate and graduate levels of learning and research. Students at the College of Arts & Sciences have referred to her as a fierce advocate for first-generation, minority and LGBTQ students. Her co-edited work, The Lesbian Premodern, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award – a prestigious award recognizing LGBTQ literature. A number of her monographs, edited collections, peer-reviewed journals and blog articles have also been nominated for awards. Her advocacy has extended to her service work with regional, national and international organizations to promote medieval studies and “bring muchneeded equity and diversity to it,” according to a nominator. This work includes guiding the creation and development of Medievalists of Color, an international organization aimed to advance critical race and cultural studies within medieval studies, and to support the work and experience of people of color both inside and outside of academia. “Prof. Sauer’s research record is second to none,” a colleague wrote. “The accomplishments detailed in her CV are awe-inspiring. Her distinguished publishing record, which includes numerous peer-reviewed monographs, edited volumes, book chapters and journal articles, is made all the more impressive by the number of those publications that have received special recognition and awards from her disciplinary peers. “More proof of the significant impact she has made and continues to make in her field is the extensive list of plenary, featured, keynote and invited conference presentations she has delivered regionally, nationally and internationally.” Sauer has been nominated for multiple teaching awards at UND, including being recognized as a “Faculty Star” in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, she was a finalist for the UND Undergraduate Teaching Award, and was a semifinalist for the UND Graduate/Professional Teaching Award in 2020. For her research, Sauer received the Thomas J. Clifford Faculty Achievement Award for Individual Excellence in Research in 2016.

Daphne E. Pedersen

In her 17-year career at UND, Daphne Pedersen has become a nationally and internationally recognized sociologist. She has published more than 60 journal articles investigating topics such as gender, the sociology of health, and how work and stress shape individual well-being. Pedersen currently serves as Department Chair of Sociology, and is the immediate Past-President of Alpha Kappa Delta, the international sociology honor society. Her career as a professor has been consistently recognized through awards from the University, including the Bertin C. Gamble Award for Individual Excellence in Teaching in 2007 and the UND Foundation/Bertin C. Gamble Faculty Award for Individual Excellence in Teaching, Research or Creative Activity, and Service in 2018. In 2018, Pedersen also presented her research regarding “Stress and Burnout in Higher Education” for an installment of UND’s prestigious Faculty Lecture Series. Colleagues nominating Pedersen for the Chester Fritz Distinguished Professorship award also recognized her repeated service as an Alice T. Clark Scholars Faculty Mentor. Since 2010, Pedersen has mentored numerous faculty members new to UND. “I believe it is very telling that incoming faculty repeatedly choose Dr. Pedersen’s career as one they would like to emulate,” wrote one nominator. Pedersen’s research profile has been characterized as “including collaborative efforts with a variety of individuals, both students and other faculty both within and outside of her department.” “She has been consistently rated by her colleagues as ‘exceeding expectations’ when it comes to her research efforts,” a colleague wrote. Since 2018, Pedersen has served as a co-principal investigator on a $1 million National Science Foundation grant for Undergraduate Scholarships with Mathematics and Science Training, Exploration and Research. Pedersen has led the social sciences research efforts associated with that grant, which “aims to identify the effectiveness of high-impact practices and mentorship in curbing attrition among underserved students in the STEM fields.” Also, since 2018, Pedersen has been Co-Editor in Chief of The Social Science Journal, for which she previously served six years as Associate Editor. She has also held numerous positions on editorial boards for publications including Teaching Sociology, the top Scholarship of Teaching and Learning journal in her discipline, and Marriage & Family Review – the latter of which has had Pedersen on its board since 2007. Her research on college student populations contributes to the University’s understanding of student success, stress and well-being in higher education, wrote another nominator. Pedersen put that background into practice by serving as a member of UND’s Task Force on The Future of Higher Education from 2020 to 2021. “Dr. Pedersen has worked closely with a large number of students – both undergraduate and graduate – while at UND, providing them with opportunities to participate in research, professional presentations and peer-reviewed publications,” the nominator continued.

Vasyl Tkach

Vasyl Tkach is one of the world’s foremost parasitologists. Since joining UND’s faculty in 2003, in the Department of Biology, Tkach has published more than 200 papers and conducted research efforts spanning the globe. “He has done more international research than probably any faculty in the history of UND, including doing research on all continents and co-authoring papers with colleagues from 30 countries,” wrote one of Tkach’s colleagues in nominating Tkach for the Chester Fritz Distinguished Professorship award. In 2020, Tkach served as president of the American Society of Parasitologists, the leading organization for the discipline in the United States. Through his 30-plus-year career, he has described more than 100 new species of parasites, in addition to his hundreds of highly cited publications. A native of Ukraine, Tkach has received multiple UND, regional, national and international awards for his research, including the 2017 Henry Baldwin Ward Medal, the most prestigious research award by the American Society of Parasitologists. In 2019, Tkach was awarded an Honorary Membership from the Polish Parasitological Society, the organization’s highest recognition. In terms of service contributions, Tkach has chaired multiple committees within the Department of Biology, including Chair of the Executive Committee. Outside of UND, he served on the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee for 10 years, and has served as Associate Editor for the Journal of Parasitology and Acta Parasitologica. As a grant reviewer, Tkach has worked with the National Science Foundation, as well as agencies in the Netherlands, Canada, Switzerland and Vietnam. Beyond his own achievements, Tkach has facilitated successful research for dozens of UND students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He has individually mentored more than 60 undergraduate students and trained a number of post-doctoral researchers from multiple countries. Tkach has also been active in hosting Research Experiences for Undergraduates on behalf of the National Science Foundation, as well as bringing experiential learning opportunities to high school students. “He talked about parasites with such enthusiasm,” wrote a former student. “There are not too many people in this world who can find the beauty in parasites, but it soon became one of my favorite classes. His excitement for learning and all things nature was contagious.” Another student wrote that UND is fortunate to have Tkach on faculty. “I have met many clever people in my life as a student and practitioner, but Vasyl stands out as someone with a savant level intellect who also maintains the common touch and a general interest in fostering students,” this former student wrote. Nearly all involved in Tkach’s nomination for the distinction noted his exceptional record in all aspects of faculty responsibility. “UND continually promotes experiential learning, and Dr. Tkach is a paragon for providing this,” wrote another colleague. “In his courses, students do state-of-the-art approaches being used in modern research, including DNA isolation, sequencing and database searches and alignments on parasites he recently collected. “Sometimes, these class assignments resulted in the identification of new species.”

Special Notices

Whether the individual is the first or last to receive a degree in the graduation ceremony, the conferring of that degree is a very special event for every graduate and family. To this end, it is requested that everyone remain seated until the conclusion of the commencement ceremony.

Photography

The University has contracted the services of Lifetouch Special Events Photography for all commencement ceremonies. The service will provide each graduate access to a photo taken when accepting congratulations on stage and a second, posed photo taken after leaving the stage. Graduates will receive a message sent to their official UND e-mail address containing a link to the photo proofs. There is no obligation to purchase photographs. Go to events.lifetouch.com/UND for information about commencement photographs. Contact Lifetouch Special Events with any questions at specialevents@lifetouch.com, by calling 800.505.9496, Monday - Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, or on their Web site events.lifetouch.com/about/contactus.aspx.

Webcast Social Media

Send a virtual message to your graduate by posting to Twitter or Instagram using #UNDproud. Your post may appear on UND.edu!

UND provides a live stream video of its Winter Commencement Ceremonies to allow family and friends to participate, even if they cannot attend in person. Three ceremonies will be streamed live on UND’s website (UND.edu) and UND Facebook page. If you are interested in watching one of the ceremonies, review the list below. The ceremonies are divided by college/school.

Thursday, December 16, 3 P.M. (CT)

Graduate & Professional Degrees Ceremony

Friday, December 17, 1 P.M. (CT) Friday, December 17, 4 P.M. (CT)

Undergraduate Ceremony for: Undergraduate Ceremony for: • College of Arts & Sciences • John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences • College of Engineering & Mines • Nistler College of Business & Public Administration • School of Medicine & Health Sciences • College of Education & Human Development • College of Nursing & Professional Disciplines Free video downloads of the ceremonies will be available on Vimeo by Wednesday, January 5, 2022 as follows: Graduate & Professional Degrees Ceremony: vimeo.com/651224367 Undergraduate Degrees Ceremony (1 P.M.): vimeo.com/651222461 Undergraduate Degrees Ceremony (4 P.M.): vimeo.com/651223431