2026 Dean's Scholars Named at Commencement
May 11, 2026
At Commencement on May 10, Vice Provost and Dean of the College Jennifer Cooley announced the recipients of the Dean’s Scholar award. First presented in 2023 to recognize the top academic achievers in the graduating class, the award was given to six graduates of the College.
The 2026 Dean’s Scholars are:
Beatrix Adams: A natural resources and the environment and English double major from Nashville, Tennessee, Adams’ course of study at Sewanee also included a minor in German and German studies. On campus, Adams served as a tutor in the Writing Center and as a young ambassador for the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, a student exchange program for German students. Wrote one faculty member in support of Adams’ nomination for this award, “If the liberal arts ideal involves the cultivation of broad and varied interests, I can hardly think of a better example of it than [Beatrix].”
Eliza Dieck: Dieck is a rhetoric major and art history and business double minor from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Her contributions to campus life at Sewanee include service as a member of the Honor Council and as a student representative on the dean’s Artificial Intelligence Task Force, where she worked collaboratively to establish a campus AI policy. Additionally, she was selected to present her research at the Central States Communication Association’s Undergraduate Honors Conference and the Southern States Communication Association’s Clevenger Undergraduate Honors Conference. “Sewanee has benefitted from Eliza’s extraordinary intelligence, diligence, and insight. She writes extraordinarily well, speaks slowly, carefully, and passionately, reads deeply and with a very critical eye, and synthesizes material from many disciplines as well as any student I have had,” wrote one Sewanee professor in support of Dieck’s nomination for this recognition.
Joshua Fairhead: Originally from South Africa, Fairhead completed a major in neuroscience with minors in psychology and biology. An active undergraduate researcher, Fairhead engaged in independent research internships at the Yale Child Study Center and at the Rockefeller University, and has presented his work on the national stage at the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology’s annual conference. One neuroscience faculty member noted Fairhead’s essential contributions to his lab on campus, sharing that his accomplishments, including guiding the lab into utilizing AI-powered behavioral analysis software and setting up laser tracking of sea star tube feet, left the lab in a strong position to complete future studies.
Kae Massey: An anthropology major and Chinese studies minor from Cleveland, Mississippi, Massey blended her interest in Asian studies with her anthropological skill set in both her internships and research experiences as a student. In 2025, she was awarded a Freeman Fellowship to support an internship at the Yunus Foundation in Bangkok, Thailand, helping nonprofit public health bodies—particularly HIV clinics—plan their transition from former USAID support to being self-sustaining. Massey also designed and carried out an original ethnography with members of the Grundy County Historical Society on the meaning of place and kinship and evolving understandings of heritage. Wrote one professor in support of Massey’s nomination, “[Massey] has set the bar in every class. Her contributions to class discussion are consistently of such depth and her coursework of such sophistication that the faculty have to remind ourselves that she is an undergraduate.”
Kylene Monaghan: A mathematics and physics double major from Blacksburg, Virginia, Monaghan has earned some of Sewanee’s top academic awards, including the Isabel Caldwell Marks Award and induction into Phi Beta Kappa. Her research résumé spans quantum computing, thermal engineering, high-energy particle physics, and applied mathematics, and includes an experience as a CERN Summer Student in Geneva, where she conducted simulations for dijet analyses in the LHCb program. Also an athlete, Monaghan was a four-year starter, two-time First Team All-SAA honoree, and served as captain of the Sewanee women’s soccer team. Earlier this year, she was awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, which provides full funding for two to three years of graduate study at the University of Oxford in England. At Oxford, Monaghan intends to pursue an M.Sc. by research in engineering science as well as an M.Sc. in quantum technologies, extending the interdisciplinary work she has already undertaken in physics, mathematics, and engineering.
Ann Steinfeld: Steinfeld is a politics major and environmental studies and women’s and gender studies double minor from New Orleans. Her senior thesis applied a novel methodology in exploring the intersections between institutional and legal designs and coastal counties’ disaster resiliency planning in the U.S. South. She was invited to present her scholarship at the Southern Political Science Association Annual Meeting and, with Dr. Amy Patterson, at the 2026 International Studies Association conference. “[Steinfeld’s] academic work reflects her deep curiosity, commitment to exploration of topics she is interested in, and a developed sense of how to synthesize perspectives across literatures and ways of thinking,” wrote one politics faculty member in support of Steinfeld’s candidacy for this award.
Dean’s Scholar award honorees were selected by the dean of the College in consultation with the associate deans of the College and members of the College’s Standards Committee. College faculty submitted nominations for consideration. Winners were chosen according to a number of factors, including GPA, the additional academic challenges they sought, having performed or presented for a broader audience, and for their contributions to Sewanee’s intellectual community.
