Hemingway Awards support WSU faculty collaboration, excellence

OGDEN, Utah — Weber State University’s 2026 Hemingway Awards will continue a decades-long tradition of supporting faculty research and service, funding 10 projects for a total of nearly $90,000.

With a $1 million contribution to WSU in December of 1988, the Richard K. And Shirley S. Hemingway Foundation established the Hemingway Faculty Development Trust. The trust supports and rewards faculty excellence in several ways, including through new faculty grants, faculty vitality grants, and the Hemingway Awards. 
 
A large stone with the purple flaming “W” logo stands in a landscaped campus area with blooming pink trees and mountains in the background at sunset.Each spring, WSU faculty members submit proposals that fall into two categories: collaborative projects involving two or more faculty, often from different academic areas; and excellence projects, which have the potential to positively and significantly impact a broader community. Since 2002, the Hemingway Awards have supported 822 faculty members engaged in 466 projects with $1,209,450 in funding.

In addition to the Hemingway Awards, the Gwen Williams Prize is awarded to a completed Hemingway collaborative or excellence project from within the last two years. The prize of $5,000 and a crystal award was established by the Hemingway trustees in 2002 to recognize extraordinary work by faculty. It’s dedicated to Gwen Strandquist Williams, who devoted many years of service to the Hemingway grants as a trustee.

2026 Hemingway Collaborative Awards

  • siRNA Therapy for Liver Cancer Treatment in Mice — Katherine Bowman (Chemistry & Biochemistry) and Gennie Parkman (Zoology)
  • Shared Plates, Shared Stories: A Collaborative Media Project — Sarah Langsdon and Jamie Weeks (Special Collections & University Archives), Aaron Atkins (Communication)
  • WSU and The House of Lobkowicz, Prague: Global Community Engaged Learning (Geography, History, Art, Architecture, and Archival Methods) — Jamie Weeks (Special Collections & University Archives), Stephen Francis (History), Shawna Code (Construction & Building Sciences)
  • From Silos to Synergy: Implementing Interprofessional Education Across Health Professions — Robyn Thompson (Athletic Training & Occupational Therapy)
  • Getting Back to Our Roots: Building Infrastructure to Revitalize Secondary Teaching Programs at WSU — Dustin Grote (Teacher Education)

2026 Hemingway Excellence Awards

  • The Many Faces of Censorship — Richard Price (Political Science & Philosophy)
  • Presentations, Networking, and Publication Opportunities in Latin America — Stephanie Wolfe (Political Science & Philosophy)
  • Adding a Weber State University Site to Global Biocrust Monitoring Network — Heather Root (Botany & Plant Ecology)
  • Under Pressure: Analyzing LEO Turnover in America’s Political Fault Lines — Gary Johnson (Political Science & Philosophy)
  • Geothermal Energy and Science Communication — Aaron Atkins (Communication)

2026 Gwen Williams Award

Conversion of Open Educational Resource Textbook Materials — Misty Allen (Stewart Library), Mylynn Felt (Communication), Jim Hutchins (Health Sciences, retired) 

The awards were presented at a luncheon on April 21. To learn more about the Richard K. and Shirley S. Hemingway Foundation, visit the foundation’s website. 

Author:

Jen Wright, Marketing & Communications

Contact:

Rachel Badali, Public Relations Director
801-626-7948, rachelbadali@weber.edu