b"DISTINGUISHED teaching AWARDThe award recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates a mastery of their subject matter, the ability to engage diverse students both within and outside of the classroom, and strives for innovation in course design.Tanya Grace Velasquez, 98, 11, has been a member of the faculty at UW Tacoma since 2011 and currently is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology with the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences.Her teaching is recognized for using high-impact, community-engaged teaching practices and individualized, long-term mentoring.Ms. Velasquez integrates knowledge of community and diversity into teaching and learning in the classroom and beyond. The committee recognized that her commitment to equity and excellence is at the very heart of what she brings the campus community.Velasquez is a graduate of UW Tacoma, with degrees in ethnic, gender and labor studies and interdisciplinary studies. She teaches courses in sociology, race and ethnicity, migration and social justice. She is a leader on campus and in the community on first-generation student initiatives.Undergraduate Research Mentor AWARDStudents participating in UW's tri-campus Undergraduate Research Symposium nominate their mentor for special recognition. Five faculty members are chosen to be honored this year.Dr. Sharon Laing currently serves as an assistant professor of nursing and healthcare leadership at UW Tacoma and adjunct assistant professor in the School of Public Health at UW in Seattle. She is committed to community-based health research evaluating the intersection of socio-cultural, psychologic, environmental, and patient-health-status factors. Her mentees praise her emphasis on skills like inquisitiveness, humility and teamwork, her ability to build confidence in her students and her dedicated commitment of time to advising her mentors.She received her BA in Psychology from McMaster University in Canada and her MS in Developmental Psychology from Howard University. She obtained her PhD in Developmental Psychology from Howard University. Laing has engaged in health services research targeting cancer prevention/control and workplace wellness. Her current research focuses on digital healthcare management for low-resourced and rural populations.DISTINGUISHED Librarian AWARDThis annual award from UW recognizes a librarian whose contributions advance the mission of the Libraries and the University in the areas of teaching, learning, research and innovative approaches to practice.Justin Wadland has worked as a librarian at UW Tacoma since 2003, and currently serves as the Interim Director, UW Tacoma Library and Associate Dean, University Libraries. He worked extensively in digital scholarship and helped establish UW Tacoma Digital Commons, the campus institutional repository. Wadland is author of the Washington State Book Award-winning Trying Home: The Rise and Fall of an Anarchist Utopia on Puget Sound and has contributed to HistoryLink.org several articles connected to UW Tacoma campus history. With his collaborators Dr. Charles Williams and Joan Hua, he is currently working on an oral history on the founding and development of the UW Tacoma campus that will be com-pleted this summer for the 30th anniversary of campus. Wadland is the first UW Tacoma librarian to win the UW Distinguished Librarian Award.5"