The University of Vermont Graduate College is pleased to announce the 2022-2023 University Scholars. The University Scholars program recognizes distinguished UVM faculty members for sustained excellence in research, scholarship and creative arts.

Social Sciences, Humanities and Creative Arts

Emily Bernard, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of English

Professor Bernard holds a B. A. and a Ph. D. in American Studies from Yale University. She has received fellowships from the Alphonse A. Fletcher Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the MacDowell Colony, the Vermont Arts Council, and the W. E. B. DuBois Institute at Harvard University. Professor Bernard was the inaugural James Weldon Johnson Senior Research Fellow in African American Studies at Yale University. As a nationally recognized scholar and public intellectual, Bernard is in demand as an invited speaker. She has published six books, with another forthcoming. Her published works include Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten, which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; Some of My Best Friends: Writers on Interracial Friendship, which was chosen by the New York Public Library as a Book for the Teen Age; and Michelle Obama: The First Lady in Photographs, which received a 2010 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work. Bernard’s essays have been reprinted in Best American Essays, Best African American Essays and Best of Creative Nonfiction. Her most recent book, Black is the Body won the Christopher Isherwood Prize for autobiographical prose in the Los Angeles Times 2020 Book Prizes competition. Professor Bernard has been a faculty member at UVM since 2001, and her work has been honored here by the Kroepsch-Maurice Award for excellence in teaching, the Dean’s Lecture Award in the College of Arts and Sciences, and a Green and Gold professorship.

Jan Fook, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Social Work

Professor Fook completed her B.S.W. at the University of South Wales, her M.S.W at the University of Sydney, and her Ph.D. at the University of Southampton. Dr. Fook's publications include 18 books, 64 book chapters, 36 journal articles, 5 guest editorships of special topic journal issues, and dozens of other articles and reports. Her works have been cited nearly 10,000 times. Her books include Researching Critical Reflection: Multidisciplinary Perspectives, edited with V. Collington, F. Ross, G. Ruch and L. West (2016, Routledge); and Learning Critical Reflection: Experiences of Transformative Learning (2019, Routledge). Two earlier books, Transforming Social Work Practice (co-edited with Bob Pease, 1999, Routledge), and Social Work: Critical Theory and Practice (2002, Sage), are considered pioneering books that set the stage for major theoretical and methodological developments in the profession of social work. Dr. Fook was a founding member of the Editorial Executive for a new journal, Qualitative Social Work, which first began in 2002 and soon became highly influential, attracting input from the best universities in the world. Dr. Fook is an extraordinarily impactful scholar in her field. She is internationally renowned, having held positions around the world including the UK, Australia, Canada, Norway, and Hong Kong. She has the distinction of developing doctoral programs in social work and interdisciplinary studies and has been awarded approximately $500,000 in support of her work and collaborative initiatives over the course of her career. Professor Fook has been at UVM since 2018 and has made strong contributions to graduate and undergraduate education through her administrative vision, leadership, and dedication to excellence.

Basic and Applied Sciences

Anne Dixon, B.M., B.Ch.
Professor, Department of Medicine

Dixon has a B.A. and M.A. from Cambridge University, and her medical degree is from Oxford University. She completed an internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins University and a pulmonary and critical care fellowship at the University of Washington. Dixon is a fellow of the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and has a notable national and international reputation in the field of asthma. She has served as director of clinical research at the Vermont Lung Center for the past 20 years. A current and past member on several NIH and Veterans’ Affairs study sections, national guideline panels, and the American Lung Association’s national Board of Directors, Dixon’s clinical and research expertise lies in the areas of asthma and lung disease related to obesity and metabolic dysfunction. She was named the UVM Health Network Medical Group’s Senior Investigator of the Year in 2016. To date, she has published 120 original articles in top journals and has had sustained impact in the field of asthma research, most notably the identification of obesogenic asthma. She has also edited a book and 12 book chapters. Her extramural funding includes three current MPI R01s and an R34 trial grant. In 2021 she was named Research Laureate in the Larner College of Medicine, the highest recognition for research accomplishment in the college. Professor Dixon is internationally recognized and influential in her field and serves in significant leadership roles. Dixon joined the UVM faculty in 2001 and since then has been a highly sought-after research and career mentor of graduate students, post-docs, medical students and pulmonary fellows.

Beverley Wemple, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair, Department of Geography

Professor Wemple completed her B.A. at the University of Richmond and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees at Oregon State University. Having been a Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Wemple has national and international prominence in her field. A highly sought-after speaker, her research focuses on the dynamics of hydrologic and geomorphic processes in upland, forested watersheds. This work examines the influence of land use practices on geophysical processes with a particular interest in using basic theoretical tools and simulation modeling, in conjunction with empirical field studies, to understand how management of the mountain landscape alters the processes of runoff generation and sediment production in steep, headwater catchments. Dr. Wemple's teaching reflects her interests in both physical geography and in geographic techniques, and she has more than 40 refereed publications and over $6M in funding as PI or MPI. She came to UVM as assistant professor in 1999 and has mentored 50 graduate students and 5 postdocs, as well as 23 undergraduates. In addition to the UVM community, she serves local and national communities with extensive provision, talks, consultation and technical expertise on research in the areas of floodplains, forest erosion and climate change effects across multiple landscapes and terrains. Dr. Wemple is an outstanding scholar, a highly respected teacher, and an exemplary university citizen who is dedicated to community-building within her department, her college, and across campus.