The Belle K. Ribicoff award has been given out to an outstanding junior faculty member at The University of Hartford for the past six year and was recently awarded to Dr. Jessica Nicklin of the Psychology Department.

The award was started by Belle K. Ribicoff who teamed together with President Walter Harrison to reward a member of the faculty who not yet tenured, but shows dedication, service and excellence in teaching to the University.

Faculty members are nominated by their colleagues then reviewed by a panel of judges, including the President, the Provost, and a selected student.

“We look at their whole range of scholarly work, what they’ve published, what their interested in, what courses they’ve taught and then final judgements is at least one of our members actually going into a class and sing how they teach so that’s how we decide it,” said President Walter Harrison.

Though this was Dr. Nicklin’s third year nominated for the award, nothing could prepare her for when the committee walked into her classroom and surprised her with the honor.

“I’ve hoped for it all the times I’ve been nominated but I’ve never really expected it and it was genuinely surprised when he came in,” said Dr. Nicklin about the day she learned that she had won the award.

Dr. Nicklin was rewarded a $10,000 prize and is now a candidate for the Ribicoff Junior Faculty Chair. According to President Walter Harrison, Nicklin “got so excited about it, it was really touching.”

The Ribicoff is also awarded each year to a graduating senior who has accumulated a GPA of 3.7 or higher and has showed commitment to the community while a student here at the University of Hartford.