CU Linguistics Professor and Chair Laura A. Michaelis has received a 2022-2023 Outstanding Faculty Mentor Award. In the words of Scott Adler, Dean of the Graduate School, the dossier submitted on Prof. Michaelis' behalf "is full of praise for the help and encouragement [she gives] to graduate students” and situates her as one of our "outstanding faculty who are willing to give so much of their time, energy, and intellect in supporting graduate students and the mission of graduate education.” In her CU faculty career, Prof. Michaelis has advised or co-advised 11 PhD students writing dissertations in the general area of corpus-based syntax and semantics. These works employ a range of methodologies from psycholinguistics to computational modeling, and target a range of languages including Arapaho, Vietnamese, Basque, Mandarin and Modern Standard Arabic. Most of her former advisees now have language or linguistics-related careers in academics or industry. She currently serves as advisor or co-advisor to five PhD students. A doctoral student of Charles Fillmore at Berkeley, Prof. Michaelis belongs to a rich academic geneology within the field of linguistics.
Upon the announcement of her receipt of the award, Prof. Michaelis remarked to the Linguistics department, "When people ask me how I like my job, my response is sometimes 'It’s the best gig in the world!' and at other times: 'It’s better than a real job!' It feels more like a dream, primarily because I get to mind-meld with, or at least laugh with, you-- imaginative, compassionate, creative, challenging, never-quite-satisfied thinkers--every day. I’m grateful there’s a place for us."