Four honored with Conn’s highest faculty awards
Four Connecticut College professors have been honored with 2026 Faculty Awards for excellence in research, teaching and leadership. The 2026 winners are:
Julia A. Flagg, Associate Professor of Sociology and Environmental Studies
JOHN S. KING FACULTY AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING
Associate Professor of Sociology Julia A. Flagg is the winner of the 2026 John S. King Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching. This award was established to recognize teacher-scholars with high standards of teaching excellence and concern for students. It is named for the beloved professor of German whose warmth and humanity touched all who knew him.
Flagg, an environmental sociologist, joined the College in 2017 and has joint appointments in the Department of Sociology and the Environmental Studies Program, which she directs. She teaches courses in both departments at all levels, including “Nature & Society,” “Sociology of the Environment,” the “Climate and Society” ConnCourse and a senior seminar, “Disasters.” She challenges and supports students in understanding complex environmental problems and developing creative ideas to solve them. Students read primary sources on social theory and apply ideas through animated class discussions and a productive writing process. Flagg is also a dedicated adviser and mentor, with many students visiting during her office hours to ask a wide range of questions.
In his letter of support for Flagg’s award nomination, Professor of Sociology Ron Flores said, “Professor Flagg challenges students to push against assumptions. She also breaks down challenging tasks into manageable assignments so students are set up to succeed at the same time that they are pushing themselves.”
A faculty colleague said, “One has to see her in person in the classroom to get the full effect of just how well prepared she. Watching her move seamlessly between a well-orchestrated lecture interspersed with open discussion, or activities around a specific prompt, is really quite something!”
Priya Kohli, Professor of Statistics
HELEN B. REGAN FACULTY AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP
Professor of Statistics Priya Kohli is the recipient of the 2025 Helen Brooks Regan Faculty Leadership Award, presented annually to a tenured faculty member whose outstanding service in a leadership role exemplifies the College’s commitment to shared governance, democratic process and campus community development.
Kohli joined the College in 2012 and has served in numerous leadership roles across campus, including this year as chair of the Faculty Steering and Conference Committee. She has been assistant chair and is currently chair of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, where she led the development of the new statistics and data science major. She previously served two terms as chair of the Planning Priorities and Budget Committee and has served multiple terms on the Committee on Faculty Compensation and the Committee on the Status of Faculty Women.
Kohli has also demonstrated leadership in her field of research, including the Executive Committee of the American Statistical Association’s Connecticut Chapter as president, vice president and treasurer. She served as the elected executive committee member for the New England Statistical Society from 2018 to 2022.
As an educator and researcher, collaborating with students and faculty colleagues on research is central to Kohli’s mission and service. She has served as a statistician consultant on more than 50 collaborations with faculty, staff and students and has enhanced the scholarship of faculty and students across the College.
In her letter of support for Kohli, Professor of Sociology Afshan Jafar wrote, “Priya writes in her statement, ‘I have understood faculty leadership not as episodic service, but as long-term stewardship of the structures that enable faculty voice, transparency and collective responsibility.’ This statement gets at the heart of Priya’s strength and philosophy as a leader. She has been serving at the College in one capacity or another since her second year. No task is too small or too big for Priya to take on. She brings her full commitment to all tasks.”
Brett Evans, Assistant Professor of Classics
HELEN MULVEY FACULTY AWARD FOR FOSTERING STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT
Assistant Professor of Classics Brett Evans is the 2026 winner of the Helen Mulvey Faculty Award. This award is presented to an assistant professor who regularly offers classes that challenge students to work harder than they thought they could and to reach unanticipated levels of academic achievement. Evans, a scholar of ancient Greek literature, epigraphy and cultural history, joined Connecticut College in 2023.
Evans has demonstrated dedication to expanding the Classics curriculum, teaching 12 courses. This achievement reflects his commitment to offering students diverse access points into the ancient world. Evans makes the ancient Greeks and Romans present for students to learn from and apply their lessons to current social and global problems.
In his letter of support for Evans’ award application, Professor of Classics Darryl Philips wrote, “In more than 30 years of college teaching … I have never known a colleague more deserving of this award than Brett Evans,” adding, “Ancient Greek is hard—incredibly hard … In just two semesters, Dr. Evans takes his students from learning the alphabet to reading the works of Plato in the original.”
In addition to his classroom teaching, Evans has engaged students as an adviser for the ConnSSHARP and Mellon Mays programs. He has also served as a faculty fellow in the Walter Commons, where he has advised many students who are applying for national competitive fellowships. Director of the Walter Commons Melissa Ryan shared, “In my advising appointments, I often tell students that at Connecticut College, their greatest asset is access to faculty who invest deeply in their growth.
Professor Evans exemplifies this commitment to our students and to our shared mission as a liberal arts institution. He mentors students … encouraging them to take risks, articulate their values and connect their academic experiences with their future aspirations.”
He was awarded a 2026-2027 Loeb Classical Library Foundation Fellowship in support of his current book project investigating the royal court society of Ptolemaic Egypt in the third century B.C.E. as presented by the court’s premier scholar-poet, Callimachus.
Maria Rosa, Associate Professor of Biology
NANCY BATSON NISBET RASH FACULTY AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH
Associate Professor of Biology Maria Rosa is the recipient of the Nancy Batson Nisbet Rash Award for Excellence in Research. The award was established in 1995 in memory of Nancy Rash, the Lucy C. McDannel ’22 Professor of Art History at Conn from 1972 to 1995.
Rosa, who joined the College in 2018, is a marine ecological physiologist. Her research focuses on how marine organisms adapt, both behaviorally and physiologically, to environmental changes. Rosa’s current applied research focuses on the Thames River and Mamacoke Marsh along the Connecticut shoreline. At the Thames River site, her pilot research program has trained students in field methods to assess the baseline water quality and biodiversity near Conn. These methods include building reef balls, which are silica-enhanced cement structures that act as an artificial reef, creating a living shoreline to help protect against erosion. Rosa’s research at the Mamacoke Marsh includes site visits with local stakeholders, securing funding to support data collection and designing restoration and resiliency plans for the remaining marsh. Additional active projects include collaborations with colleagues at Save the Sound and CT NEER on eelgrass restoration.
Rosa has received more than $5 million in external grant funding to support her research at the College on eel grass restoration, the Mamacoke Marsh restoration project, and the Living Shorelines restoration project. Rosa includes Conn students, faculty and staff in all of these projects, and this work has led to 11 publications, including four with Conn students as co-authors, in peer-reviewed journals.
In her letter of support, Associate Professor of Biology Taegan McMahon wrote, “I believe one of the reasons Dr. Rosa has been so successful in her research program is because she loves science. This draws in collaborators, myself included, and makes people want to engage and to contribute. The students feel her enthusiasm, and she is always surrounded by eager participants … She is an incredible scientist herself and she is clearly committed to mentoring the next generation of scientists with passion.”