HWS News
2 July 2025 • Faculty • STEM Faculty Prizes Awarded
Hobart and William Smith faculty recognize peer excellence in teaching, community service and scholarship.
Associate Professor of Chemistry Christine de Denus, Associate Professor of Physics Leslie Hebb and Professor of International Relations Vikash Yadav were awarded with the 2025 Faculty Prizes. Based on the recommendations of fellow HWS faculty members, the Committee on Faculty Research and Honors selected de Denus, Hebb and Yadav for their respective contributions to teaching, community service and scholarship.
Christine de Denus, who joined the faculty in 1999, received the Teaching Excellence Award. An organometallic chemist, de Denus has taught introductory, organic, inorganic, structural analysis and forensic chemistry as well as first-year seminar courses. In addition to her teaching duties, she has devoted herself to building a diverse campus community, serving as the Director of the First-Generation Initiative since 2016 as well as a mentor to the Posse 8 cohort. She has been involved in efforts surrounding Title IX and Bystander Intervention trainings, Division III athletics and LGBTQIA+ education and policy changes. She has served as a diversity liaison and an ombudsperson and collaborated across departments and offices to implement important changes regarding health care coverage for members of the LGBTQIA+ community, all-gender restrooms in campus buildings and preferred name capabilities in PeopleSoft. de Denus earned her Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Manitoba and her B.S. in chemistry from the University of Winnipeg and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Pennsylvania State University conducting research in polymer chemistry. She received the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award in 2023. In 2022, the faculty recognized de Denus’ contributions to the HWS community with the Faculty Award for Service.
Her colleagues reflected on her devotion to her students. “Being student-centered translates to her never being satisfied with just teaching excellence. She has sought continuous improvement. She seeks and values feedback from her students. Even after the 20th+ iteration of teaching a particular class, she still looks to re-work that class and make it even better,” shared fellow faculty in her citation.
An engaged scholar of observational astronomy dedicated to expanding her knowledge to the public, Leslie Hebb joined HWS in 2013 and is the recipient of the Community Service Award. Her research focuses on discovering and characterizing planets around other stars, measuring fundamental properties of low-mass stars and understanding magnetic activity on stars other than the Sun. Hebb was instrumental in the creation of the Perkin Observatory since her arrival and creating and leading the Year of the Sun events celebrating the 2024 solar eclipse. This spring, she was promoted to full professor. Before joining HWS, Hebb was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of St. Andrews and Vanderbilt University and a research faculty member at the University of Washington. Hebb has contributed to more than 100 academic astronomy publications in diverse research areas related to the measurement of fundamental properties of low-mass stars and the characterization of magnetic activity on stars other than the sun. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. from Johns Hopkins University and her B.S. from the University of Denver.
Colleagues applauded Hebb’s idea and execution of the Year of the Sun series of events. “She mobilized literally every office on campus—including Buildings & Grounds and Sodexo—to provide a rich menu of activities and services—from food and parking to IT support. She recruited and trained Solar Ambassadors who could guide and enrich the experience of those who chose to spend the eclipse with us. And she prepared us all for the two minutes of totality with a blog series that began months before the event. And in the finest liberal arts tradition, the celebrations of The Year of the Sun wove together history, culture, visual art, music and science.”
Vikash Yadav has served at HWS since 2007 and received the Scholarship Award. He is a scholar of international relations, focusing on the international political economy, particularly issues such as finance, globalization and poverty and comparative politics, exploring the political economy of South Asia, political capitalism and developmental states. He is the author of three books, most recently including Liberalism’s Last Man: Hayek in the Age of Political Capitalism (2023, University of Chicago Press), The Politics of India under Modi: Democracy, Economy, and Foreign Policy (2023, Lever Press) with Jason A. Kirk and Risk in International Finance (2008, Routledge), eight peer-reviewed articles and many book reviews. In Liberalism’s Last Man, Yadav offers a modern take on economist Friedrich Hayek’s famous work, The Road to Serfdom, reframing its message for the 21st century. His insights into Hayek’s theories earned him praise from the Wall Street Journal and The Independent Review called the book "one of the most remarkable contributions to Hayekian scholarship post-1989." It has also received praise from Bruce Caldwell and Peter Boetke, two of the world's leading scholars on Hayek. A member of the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association, Yadav holds a B.A. from DePauw University, an M.A. from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
In reflecting on Vadav’s work, his colleagues noted the power of Liberalism’s Last Man. “Vikash Yadav is known for his meticulous scholarship, close reading of material and attention to detail. The goal of Liberalism’s Last Man is to reintroduce Hayek to a new generation, especially college students, who might know him, if they know him at all, as ancient history, someone literally born not even in the last century, but in the 19th century.”
Top: Professor of International Relations Vikash Yadav, Associate Professor of Physics Leslie Hebb and Associate Professor of Chemistry Christine de Denus
