On April 21, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences gathered at Casa Italiana to celebrate a community defined by intellectual distinction, public engagement, and extraordinary dedication. At the 2026 GSAS Awards Dinner, students, faculty, and alumni were honored for their achievements that span scholarship, teaching, mentorship, advocacy, and service. Opening the evening, Dean Carlos J. Alonso framed the ceremony as a celebration of “superlative teaching and mentoring, world-class research, and the training of graduates who go on to make meaningful contributions across fields and communities.”
The first award of the evening, the Campbell Award, was presented to Riya Rampalli (’26MA, Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology), in recognition of extensive work with mentorship initiatives including E3Buddies and the New York Academy of Sciences’ Afterschool STEM Program. Reflecting on their academic journey, Rampalli noted, “Columbia has made clear that this work does not exist in isolation. How it is produced, communicated, and situated matters just as much as the questions themselves.”
The ceremony then turned to excellence in teaching. Vice Dean Andrea Solomon presented the Presidential Award for Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student to three doctoral candidates whose commitment to the classroom has left a lasting impression on their students. Alice Clapie (’22MPhil, Theatre and Performance) recounted her own struggles in school and the encouragement she received from a high school history teacher who inspired her with the observation that “the worst students make the best teachers.” Claudia Espinoza-Heredia (’25MPhil, Psychology) dedicated the honor to her family for the sacrifices they made “when they came to this country. My awards are their awards.” Joseph Lee (’25MPhil, Physics) thanked his former students and advisors for their steadfast support.
Each year the Dr. Devon T. Wade Mentorship, Service, and Advocacy Award honors a student whose leadership and service strengthens the university and the broader community. Presented by Senior Associate Dean for Professional Development and Academic Access Celina Chatman Nelson, the 2026 award honored chemistry PhD candidate Mariah Ramos for her leadership as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion chair for Women in Chemistry and founder of Columbia’s chapter of Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics & Native Americans in Science (SACNAS+). Accepting the award, Ramos reflected on the everyday dimensions of service: “The truth is advocacy and service are not only in larger acts that get awards, but also in the smallest acts of kindness of every day.”
The student-led Faculty Mentoring Award, presented by Arts and Sciences Graduate Council President Aandishah Samara, celebrated faculty members whose guidance has profoundly shaped graduate education. Marina Cords (Anthropology; Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology) emphasized that meaningful advising involves a reciprocal relationship, noting that “The questions my students ask me keep my mind nimble." Co-recipient Madeleine Dobie (French and Comparative Literature) spoke about the importance of supporting graduate students during a period of significant challenges for universities and the humanities, urging the University “to be bold and smart and to position our graduate students to be leaders rather than casualties of these forces."
The Outstanding Recent Alumni Award recognized two graduates whose careers exemplify the impact of GSAS training beyond the University. Historian Elizabeth Kai Hinton (’13PhD, History), now a professor of History, Black Studies, and Law at Yale University, reflected on the influence of her Columbia mentors, including DeWitt Clinton Professor Emeritus of History Eric Foner and the late Manning Marable, founding director of Columbia’s Institute for Research in African-American Studies. Marable, she recalled, taught her “the importance of history as a way to advance social justice.” Her fellow honoree, sociologist and policymaker Ábel Ravasz (’14MA, Sociology) whose work has focused on Roma inclusion and minority rights in Central Europe, reflected on a career that has bridged scholarship and public service. Although he once feared his work in public policy had taken him away from academia, he said, “to get an award of this magnitude not in spite of that path, but because of it, is wonderful.”
The Dean’s Award for Distinguished Achievement was presented to two alumni whose careers have combined professional excellence with profound public impact: neuroscientist and musician David Sulzer (’88PhD, Biological Sciences) and to human rights advocate Tatiana Kotlyarenko (’07MA, Human Rights Studies). Sulzer, a professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Pharmacology at Columbia, discussed the unexpected intersections among science, music, and intellectual life that have defined her career. Speaking with humor and urgency, he defended the values of diversity, inclusion, and medical research, observing that “Most of you may not realize that the medical school at Columbia is the largest hospital in New York City. And it's really been starved by the current administration.” Kotlyarenko, a former refugee who has become a steadfast advocate against human trafficking, offered a powerful reminder concerning the precarious state of “women's rights, all across the globe.”
The Dean’s Award for Lifetime Achievement honored Joan Tower (’78DMA, Music), one of the nation’s most acclaimed contemporary composers. Over a decades-long career, Tower’s work has been performed around the world, recognized with numerous honors, including a Grammy Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. Accepting on her behalf, Julia Doe, Associate Professor of Music at Columbia University, shared Tower’s reflections on her graduate education. “Columbia introduced me to important ideas and gave me a strong grounding in music history—though at the time, there were far too few women represented in that history, something that began to change in later decades.”
The final honor of the evening, the Columbia University Alumni Medal, recognizes of distinguished service to the university. This year’s awardee, Lindsay Leard-Coolidge (’92PhD, Art History and Archaeology), has devoted years of leadership to the GSAS Alumni Association, including service as chair of the board. Reflecting on her connection to Columbia, she remarked, “Studying at Columbia was one of the great privileges of my life. And an equal privilege has been working with all of you and the alumni community.”
Across disciplines and generations, the evening’s honorees returned again and again to a common set of themes: mentorship, intellectual community, and the responsibility to bring scholarship into the wider world. Their accomplishments offered a vivid portrait of GSAS at its best—not only as a place of discovery and learning, but as a community whose members continue to shape scholarship, advance knowledge, and serve the public good. To conclude the ceremony, Dean Carlos Alonso invited all of the award recipients to stand together and be recognized together for their collective achievements, bringing the evening to a fitting close.
