Mershon affiliates Hollie Nyseth Brehm and Amy Shuman have received the 2016 Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. This is the university’s most prestigious teaching award, recognizing a maximum of 10 faculty members for their teaching excellence each year.

Nyseth Brehm is assistant professor of sociology studying mass violence, human rights violations, and mass crime — why they occur, how they occur, their effects, and responses to them. Her research on genocide courts in Rwanda was supported by the Mershon Center.

Shuman is professor of English specializing in folklore, narrative, and critical theory. She is author of books and articles on conversational narrative, literacy, political asylum, disability, food customs, feminist theory and critical theory.

At the Mershon Center, Shuman has organized numerous conferences and symposia, as well as recevied grants for her research on political asylum. She currently serves as director of Disability Studies and director of the Diversity and Identity Studies Collective.

Nyseth Brehm recently gave a headline presentation at TEDx Ohio State.  She has received a 4.9 out of 5 rating for each course she has taught and regularly earns glowing feedback from her students. As one notes, she "genuinely cares about students and has an obvious passion for teaching. I would take any course she offered.” 

Shuman is a Guggenheim Fellow, the recipient of the 2007 College of Humanities Exemplary Faculty Award, the 2014 Distinguished Service Award, and the 2015 Distinguished Scholar Award. She was nominated by a group of her current and former graduate students.

A committee of students, previous recipients, and alumni choose the recipients of the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching. Recipients are inducted into the Academy of Teaching.