Maureen Mathison receives inaugural
Robert A. Goldberg Prize

Maureen Mathison, associate professor of writing and rhetoric studies, has received the inaugural Robert A. Goldberg Endowed Faculty Prize in the Humanities. The prize recognizes faculty whose record in teaching and research reflects high merit and provides a stipend to support the faculty member’s ongoing projects.  

Since joining the university in 1994, Mathison has made significant and enduring contributions to the department, college and university. She has served in a wide variety of administrative capacities, such as associate dean in the college, director of the University Writing Program, inaugural chair of the Department of Writing and Rhetoric Studies and currently serves as director of the graduate program in her department.

Despite her heavy service responsibilities, Mathison continues to be a productive scholar and publishes extensively in various areas. She is the editor of Sojourning in Disciplinary Cultures: A Case Study of Teaching Writing in Engineering (Utah State University Press, 2019), which was nominated for the 2021 International Writing across the Curriculum Award for Best Edited Collection. She is also the author of many journal articles and book chapters. One of her journal articles was nominated for the 2015 College Composition and Communication Award for Best Article on Pedagogy or Curriculum in Technical or Scientific Communication. Over the years, she has won a number of major grants, both internal and external, totaling more than $1 million.

“Because of her dedication, skill and compassion, her service has been both important and inspiring and its impact both singular and significant,” said LuMing Mao, chair of the Department of Writing and Rhetoric Studies. “As a teacher, she is a model both in and outside the classroom. She has mentored and collaborated with her undergraduate and graduate students on numerous occasions, including co-presenting at the 2022 Rhetoric Society of American Biennial Conference in Baltimore.”

This award honors emeritus professor Robert Goldberg’s forty-year career as an inspiring teacher, devoted mentor of countless graduate students, a prominent scholar of American political history and, for thirteen years, director of the Tanner Humanities Center.

“It is a privilege to recognize Robert’s distinguished career this prominent way,” said Stuart K. Culver, dean of the College of Humanities. “We owe a debt of gratitude for his leadership at the Humanities Center, building on the work of earlier directors to develop its role as the public face of our college while expanding its work supporting research projects, fostering connections with humanities scholars, reaching out to secondary school teachers in our state and building bridges to the community by showcasing the relevance of humanities inquiry to the pressing concerns of our time. Nurturing an institution such as this demands not only sustained commitment but also a generous, inclusive intellectual vision, which we hope this award will celebrate and promote.”