In honor of Sharon Davie, the founding director of the Women’s Center, our Davie Fellowship supports the professional development of a PhD student at UVA who is exploring a non-traditional career path. Liz Larson, the first to receive the Davie Fellowship, is a Physics PhD candidate working with the University’s Center for Teaching Excellence to improve the physics classroom as it is experienced by so many non-majors in engineering or pre-med programs. As a Graduate Teaching Consultant with the CTE, Liz is bridging the often-separate worlds of evidence-based pedagogy and physics subject matter expertise and generating curricula specific to the physics classroom.

As she received word that the inaugural fellowship named in her honor had been awarded, Sharon Davie, the founding director of the Women's Center, said, "I am very moved by this honor. I’m grateful both for the recognition of my work and values, and for the chance to support doctoral students who are bringing creativity and courage to their own career paths. It is a special pleasure for me to know that this fellowship recognizes students who are taking their extraordinary educations at UVA and creating their own unique career paths."