May 18, 2026
The Writing Program is pleased to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments of student writers and writing faculty at CWRU. Writing is fundamental to the work of the university: our words enable the development and circulation of knowledge, create and sustain our communities, and advocate for social and community action.
Faculty Awards for Writing Instruction & Consulting
Congratulations to the faculty whose expertise and dedication have supported our writers at all stages of their careers.
The Jessica Melton Perry Award for Distinguished Teaching in Disciplinary & Professional Writing recognizes outstanding instruction in writing in professional fields and/or disciplines other than English. This year’s winner is Laura A. Voith, Associate Professor, Jack, Joseph, and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences. Dr. Voith’s teaching philosophy resonates with CWRU’s commitment to the teaching of communication. As she beautifully captures it:
“In academia, writing is both currency and craft. It determines whether ideas circulate, whether research shapes practice, and whether scholars are recognized as contributors to their fields. My teaching philosophy rests on a simple premise: students learn to write as scholars by being treated as scholars. Writing is personal—even academic writing—and development requires an environment grounded in relational trust, intellectual rigor, and structured opportunity.”
The Richard A. Bloom, M.D. Award for Distinguished Teaching recognizes distinguished teaching of writing-intensive general education courses in the university's common core curriculum, such as the Academic Inquiry Seminars and Communication-Intensive courses. The award recipient is selected by students, based upon student nominations. This year's winner is Stephanie Redekop, Lecturer in English.
Dr. Redekop received several student nominations for the Bloom Award, some for her effective writing instruction and some for her encouragement of discussion in the seminar classroom. As one student described, “The feedback she gives on our assignments is also very constructive and insightful, not just numbers or check marks on a rubric. She also always reminds us of the resources available to us outside of class, including her office hours, the writing resource center, and the career center.”
Another student captured Dr. Redekop’s overall presence as the key to her excellence, writing:
“I love the energy and enthusiasm that Dr. Redekop brings to every class. As a student, there is no bigger motivator to care about a class and put effort into it than when you can tell that the professor cares about the class and puts effort into it. She has an infectious enthusiasm in regards to professional communication that makes learning about it a lot easier.”
The AIQS Innovative Teaching Award recognizes transformative teaching methods and approaches that enhance the experience of our first-year students in Academic Inquiry Seminars. This year’s winner is Adrienne (Ageh) Bedell, Lecturer in English. While innovation is often paired with technology and “newness,” this year’s award winner innovates in a very different way, helping her first-year students to explore grief, trauma, oppression, and injustice. It is amazing to see how she creates a classroom that allows and encourages students to be vulnerable and authentic. As one of her nominating students explains,
“Ageh asks students to write genuinely about their challenging experiences, and to understand them through the lens of critical and scholarly material. She completely understands the way in which she needs to be 100% there for students if she is going to teach them through the categories and social problems she addresses. She is fully committed to them and their mental well-being and provides a safe space for their exploration of difficult and deeply personal topics.”
The WRC Excellence in Consulting Award recognizes outstanding writing instruction for students of the University and exemplary service to the Writing Resource Center during the academic year. This year’s winner is Annie Pécastaings, Lecturer in English. Her nominations were from students who said they had gone back to her multiple times because they valued her writing advice and her kindness in providing helpful feedback. One student-nominee wrote:
“Professor Pécastaings provided very clear, specific feedback on my papers and asked questions that helped me better understand my argument as well as the topic at hand. Her ability to teach in such a brief session was incredible!”
The WRC also recognizes Peer Writing Fellow, Lucian Alexander-Roy, who graduates this year, but leaves behind many fans of his consultations on medical school applications and other STEM writing. One of his nominees wrote, “Lucian is a very insightful advisor who is knowledgeable not just about writing analytical pieces but also about the medical school personal statement writing process. This has helped me immensely and surely many others too. He is also kind and patient.”
Student Awards for Writing & Composing
Congratulations to the winners of the AIQS Writing Awards! These awards are given to students who submitted excellent papers from their first-year writing seminars during the 2024-2025 Academic Year.
Lemmerman Prize for Analytical Writing
- Winner: Juan Antonia Horta Baltazar, “Sound, Identity, and the Collapse of Fantasy in Mulholland Drive” (Written in “Weird Fictions”/Steve Pinkerton, Lecturer in English)
- Honorable Mention: Selena Liao, “Encouraging Authentic Interpretations: How Intentional Silence Can Speak Volumes in Wordless Picture Book Scenes” (Written in Children’s Literature in Cleveland/Cara Byrne, Lecturer in English)
- Honorable Mention: Anna Mut, “Honoring the Past, Shaping the Future” (Written in Dead Ends/Vicki Daniel, Lecturer in English)
Holden Prize for Creative or Narrative Writing
- Winner: Weber Chen, “The Silence Between Bites” (Written in Reading and Writing Ourselves/Brie Parkin, Instructor in English)
Holden Prize for Multimodal Writing
- Winners: Shaina Jhanji, Michael Lattari, and Henry Stowell, “Monstrous Virtues: Jaws and the Hunger Games” (Written in Modern Virtues: Examining Contemporary Moralities/Kevin Lucas, Lecturer in English)
- Honorable Mention: Alex Qi, Vajk Volgyesi, Henry Senra, and Megan He, “Beyond the Corner of the Sky: Finding Meaning Without Religion & Facing Death” (Written in Modern Virtues: Examining Contemporary Moralities/Kevin Lucas, Lecturer in English)
Congratulations to all of our winners!