The Louise Troxell Award and Edna Kernwood Glicksman Award were created to honor the cause of women on this campus. Informally known as the Troxell-Glicksman Awards, they recognize outstanding junior or senior women from across UW–Madison, nominated by faculty or academic staff.
Nominees demonstrate excellent intellectual ability and curiosity, engaged citizenry, appreciation of the broader world and participation in its affairs. These awardees are of high academic caliber, deeply engaged in campus and community activities and aspire to continue their education in graduate or professional schools.
Glicksman Award
Thekla Ketcher ’23 | Psychology; Chinese; certificate in Digital Studies; Honors in the Liberal Arts
Since my sophomore year, I have been a research assistant and volunteer at the Preventing Interpersonal Violence and Overcoming Trauma lab. I have had the opportunity to accept outside leadership roles such as interning with the Doing Justice Project. I gained hands-on experience with the Madison courthouse and understand the levels of Madison crimes. With my PIVOT experience, witnessing domestic and sexual violence criminal proceedings had a deeper meaning to me as I had a better understanding of what was happening to the victim and defendant on a psychological level. — Thekla Ketcher
Troxell Awards
Eryne Jenkins ’22 | Biology; Environmental Studies (with Honors in the Major)
I addressed inequality and polarization on platforms on campus through opportunities as an undergraduate researcher, Interfaith Fellow, Shared Governance representative, Wisconsin International Scholar, and Nelson Institute Community and Environmental Scholar, which allowed me to harness my motivation and passion to combat inequities in community resources. This is especially important to me, a Black female, as someone who is underrepresented in higher education and medical education. — Eryne Jenkins
Sophia Webber ’22 | Community and Environmental Sociology; certificates in Food Systems, Gender and Women’s Studies, and Global Health
In the Education Committee in F. H. King Students for Sustainable Agriculture, I designed and facilitated an agricultural internship during the summer, worked on the farm, and helped university students facilitate agricultural and environmental workshops with children in the afterschool program. My tenure at F. H. King not only prompted immense growth as a leader and team member, but forced me to interrogate my biases, fears, and priorities around tackling food insecurity on campus. — Sophia Webber
Tamia Fowlkes ’22 | Journalism; Political Science (with Honors in the Major); certificate in Gender and Women’s Studies; Honors in the Liberal Arts
Working with the BadgersVote
Communications team, I helped to create engaging and accessible digital content to aid students through the voting process during times of virtual learning. Whether I am registering students to vote, writing an article about my community, or in conversation with changemakers, political leaders, and activists, my work grants me a unique power to educate and shape the minds of the public and serve as a critical tool in their pursuit of positive change and action. — Tamia Fowlkes
Barbara Hanna ’22 | Neurobiology; English; certificate in Art Studio; Honors in the Liberal Arts
My time in Namibia made one thing obvious: learning is a two-way street. I traveled across the globe to support a community by sharing my education with its children, but the bond I forged with them was more valuable than any piece of information we could exchange. The children learned the importance of a balanced diet, but access to those healthy options was likely too limited for them to apply it. This drove me to gather a Wisconsin Idea Fellowship team to build a community greenhouse in Windhoek. — Barbara Hanna
Jazmine Zuniga-Paiz ’22 | Political Science; Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies; certificate in Chican@/Latin@ Studies
Since 2018, I’ve taken different positions in Dreamers of UW–Madison, from Fundraising Chair, to Programming Chair, Vice President, and now President. Coming from a mixed-status family I wanted to take direct action and find community on campus. I found that in Dreamers of UW–Madison. I’ve learned about the politics behind the barriers to higher-ed access for undocumented students and the ways our alleged democracy is failing us. Instead of becoming pessimistic, Dreamers gave me a way to find empowerment in a diverse community where I didn’t have to defend the humanity of my family. — Jazmine Zuniga-Paiz
Meg Mercy ’23 | Social Work
I organized the Dane County Domestic Violence Coordinated Community Response annual conference, bringing together advocates and professionals from organizations across the county to brainstorm current gaps in victim services and new avenues for meeting those needs. The Commission on Sensitive Crimes is now in the process of requesting additional funding and reallocating resources to facilitate the involvement of survivors from marginalized communities in the broader work of CCRs. We are currently in the process of dissolving our original structure and beginning two separate groups: a survivor-led group to identify needs and preferred areas of impact, and an implementation group that will follow the leadership of the survivor-led group to find practical avenues for change. — Meg Mercy
Louise Troxell was Dean of Women at UW–Madison from 1931 until 1956. Her award was established to honor her years of outstanding leadership and devotion to the cause of women on UW–Madison’s campus. Edna Kerngood Glicksman was an early twentieth-century leader in the state’s League of Women Voters and the State Federation of Women’s Clubs. The award was created by her husband, Harry Glicksman, an assistant dean, to recognize students with “intellectual attainments, high womanhood and service in the college community.”
The competitive selection process for these awards is overseen by Prof. Susan Brantly, Dept. of German, Nordic, and Slavic+; Claudia Guzmán, director of the Multicultural Student Center; Lesley Sager, Dept. of Design Studies; and Frieda Zuckerberg, director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Office of Undergraduate Advising.