UERU Leadership Award

The Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities (UERU) Leadership Award is the highest honor bestowed by the UERU Board and is given, when at all, to no more than two recipients at each biannual UVP Meeting in recognition of extraordinary volunteer service to The Association for Undergraduate Education at Research Universities.

Established in 2025, the UERU Leadership Award marks and contributes to the ongoing celebration of UERU’s 25th Anniversary.

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UERU Leadership Award

Michael Dennin

University of California, Irvine

Dr. Michael Dennin, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning and Dean, Division of Undergraduate Education at the University of California, Irvine, has never until this fall served on UERU’s Board. But his not serving on the Board till now has not kept Dr. Dennin from extraordinary service to the Association, including Michael’s remarkable record of participation in UVP Meetings (ironically, due to a sabbatical and ongoing trip to Greece, not this one!), his hosting a UVP Meeting at the University of California, Irvine, in the Spring of 2017, his having conceived, proposed, and then proceeded to doggedly pursued a National Academies consensus study on undergraduate STEM education (the fruits of which were the subject of our convening at Howard University this past January), his service on that National Academies committee and his associate editorship—along with Howard’s Melanie Carter, Delaware’s Lynn Okagki, and UT-Austin’s Hillary Procknow—of the forthcoming JHUP book, The Equity-Excellence Imperative in Action (which includes a chapter by Michael and Brian Sato, a UC Irvine colleague). He has also contributed town halls solo as well as with his colleague, UCI dean and higher ed scholar, Richard Arum, and helped us recruit new members, most recently providing liaison between UERU and his undergraduate alma mater. Michael Dennin has never served on UERU’s Board till now, but his contributions to UERU are nonetheless voluminous, extraordinary, and appreciated.

(October 2025)

Rachel Holloway

Rachel Holloway

Virgina Tech

Dr. Rachel Holloway’s extended service on the UERU Executive Committee provided much-needed stability during the Covid-19 pandemic; she traveled to Colorado State University at a critical time when the Home Office requested that the UERU Board President advocate for UERU vis-à-vis CSU’s President and Provost; Dr. Holloway remains active as an Emeritus Board Member, as evidenced by her serving as lead facilitator for UVP 101 during the 2025 Spring UVP Meeting jointly hosted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. By bestowing the inaugural UVP Leadership Award to Dr. Rachel Holloway, the UERU Board recognizes these and countless other instances of her extraordinarily consequential volunteer leadership. 

(June 2025)

Archie Holmes

Archie Holmes Jr.

The University of Texas System

UERU is proud to acknowledge and thank Dr. Archie L. Holmes, Jr., who currently serves the University of Texas System as Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. Dr. Holmes is a UERU Board member emeritus, representing the University of Virgina for two full terms, but what truly distinguishes his extraordinary service to UERU are 1) his encouragement of our UVP Leadership Initiative, which well might not exist were it not for his vision and commitment to helping colleagues in their careers; 2) Archie’s co-chairing of UERU’s Provost Group, for which just last month he moderated a town hall with UT San Antonio’s Heather Shipley and the University of California System’s Katherine Newman, the other Provost Group co-chair; and 3) Dr. Holmes’ co-chairing of the 2025 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on undergraduate STEM Education, with its aforenoted UERU roots and which, thanks to Archie, included unprecedented UERU member input and ongoing UERU commitment. Simply put, few if any UERU members have done more to consistently, and for so long, and in such multifaceted ways, contribute to the Association’s growth and development. We are so much better because of his extraordinary service.

(October 2025)

Beth Loizeaux

Beth Loizeaux

Boston University

Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Bergmann Loizeaux is a UERU past president and Board Member Emerita who helped recruit members to and subsequently lead the Boyer 2030 Commission. An ex officio Commissioner herself, Beth helped solicit UVP input into the Commission’s work and served as lead author of The Equity-Excellence Imperative (published by the University Press of Colorado in 2022). In addition to thousands of print copies in circulation, the Boyer 2030 Report has been downloaded over 35,000 times to unique IP addresses and continues to inspire fundamental reform, its main purpose, as well as additional scholarship, including the contributions collected in the forthcoming Johns Hopkins University Press volume, The Equity-Excellence Imperative in Action. The UERU Board recognizes Beth Loizeaux for these and other instances of her extraordinarily consequential volunteer leadership.

(June 2025)