Distinguished Faculty in the College of Arts & Sciences

Each year since 1955, The Association of Former Students has recognized excellent members of Texas A&M University’s faculty and staff for outstanding dedication to Aggie students with the University Distinguished Achievement Award.  

This year, seven individuals from the College of Arts & Sciences were selected for the award. The 2026 Arts & Sciences recipients are Dr. James Pennington, Dr. James Batteas, Cheryl Hanks, Dr. Sherry Yennello, Dr. Anna Wiederhold Wolfe, Dr. Dawson Nodurft and Dr. Jeremy Holt.  

Awardees were honored at the Academic Awards Ceremony, during which each received a monetary award, an engraved watch and a commemorative certificate. View the photo gallery from the April 24 Academic Awards Ceremony in the Memorial Student Center.

Dr. James Pennington, coordinator of Texas A&M’s Chemistry Road Show, was recognized with the University Distinguished Achievement Award for extension, outreach, continuing education and professional development. Pennington received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Michigan in 1998. He joined the Texas A&M Chemistry Department as a Lecturer that year. He has taught organic chemistry at Texas A&M since then and has received multiple awards related to education and outreach.   

Texas A&M hosts the Chemistry Road Show in Texas and beyond for schools, libraries, museums and the broader community, many in underserved rural and urban areas. Since 2008, Pennington has expanded the program to reach more than 250,000 people, mentoring approximately 122 volunteers, and empowering them to carry on the tradition of educational outreach in their communities.  

Dr. James Batteas was selected for the University Distinguished Achievement Award for graduate mentoring. He received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin, and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and directs the NSF Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry. 

His research group focuses on three main projects: 1) Nanoscale Materials and Devices, with a focus on designing materials for novel electronics and energy storage systems; (2) Nanotribology: seeking to understand the atomic scale origins of friction, and to utilize this to control friction in areas from micro-devices to robotics; and (3) Mechanochemistry, in which mechanical force can drive chemical reactions, leading to more energy efficient, safer, and sustainable (solvent-free) approaches for chemical manufacturing. 

During his career, he has mentored over 100 students, postdoctoral scholars, and research scientists in his group.

Cheryl Hanks was honored with the University Distinguished Achievement Award for management executives. She provides leadership and direction for the development and implementation of projects, programs and initiatives in the college. Her work ensures that individual elements of the college fit together and work to create successful outcomes. 

With more than 40 years of service with Texas A&M, Hanks has previously served as associate vice president for academic services in the Division of Enrollment and Academic Services and assistant dean for finance and operations in the College of Liberal Arts. She received her bachelor’s degree from Texas Lutheran University and holds a Master of Public Administration from Texas A&M. 

Dr. Sherry Yennello was selected for the University Distinguished Achievement Award for research. She is an internationally renowned nuclear chemist and expert in heavy-ion reactions, recognized among the top 0.5% of researchers in nuclear chemistry. She is also a global authority in the use of isotopically selected beams to explore the dynamics and thermodynamics of nuclear collisions, including one of the first-ever experiments induced by a radioactive beam.  

She received her Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry from Indiana University and spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at Michigan State University before joining the Texas A&M faculty in 1993 as an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and a member of the Cyclotron Institute, which she has directed since 2014.  

 In addition to serving as the principal investigator for two Department of Energy centers of excellence, she oversees a leading U.S. program in developing alpha-emitting radioactive isotopes that are transforming nuclear medicine as an effective treatment for inoperable tumors.

Dr. Anna Wiederhold Wolfe received the University Distinguished Achievement Award for teaching. Her expertise is in understanding how we connect with others and organize social action across meaningful differences. She received her Ph.D. in communication studies from Ohio University and is completing her 10th year working at Texas A&M University. 

Wolfe collaborates with students to examine how people negotiate in-group/out-group boundaries, how leaders tell stories to organize collective action, and how processes of dialogue and deliberation can be designed to facilitate deeper shared understandings and more democratic public decisions. Much of her work is conducted in collaboration with community partners to use communication theory to address everyday problems of living and working in a pluralistic society.  

Beyond classroom instruction, Wolfe has trained hundreds of students in advanced facilitation skills, advised 12 doctoral students and one Master of Arts student, and served on 30 additional graduate dissertation/thesis committees. Her 2019 book, which was co-authored with an undergraduate student, was published with NYU Press and received five major disciplinary book awards.

Dr. Dawson Nodurft was honored with the University Distinguished Achievement Award for teaching. He joined Texas A&M in 2011 as a graduate student and completed a Ph.D. in physics in 2019. Shortly after graduating, he joined Texas A&M’s faculty and has been with the university for six years.  

He teaches introductory-level physics courses, where he has continuously evolved his instructional techniques with skills he learned from The Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) Effective College Instruction course. Nodurft is a fellow in the Transforming Teaching through Engaged and Active Learning (TEAL) Academy to collaborate with colleagues to incorporate high-impact engaged and active learning practices in their courses. 

He is involved with the physics outreach program in his department, co-organizing the annual Physics and Engineering Festival and DEEP program . He also works with a talented team to promote the Department of Physics & Astronomy through science experiment videos on YouTube, which has attracted 3.7 million subscribers.

Dr. Jeremy Holt was awarded the University Distinguished Achievement Award for teaching. He received his Ph.D. in nuclear physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2008. He joined the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Texas A&M University as an assistant professor in 2016.  

Holt teaches undergraduate courses in mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and quantum mechanics. His research focuses on the nuclear microphysics of neutron stars, core-collapse supernovae, and neutron star mergers, which is funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Nuclear Security Administration. Holt has written more than 65 peer-reviewed journal articles, three book chapters and served as editor for two books. He also received the CAREER award from the National Science Foundation in 2017, which supports early career faculty with potential to serve as academic role models in education and research.