The committee for the Linda K. Amos Award for Distinguished Service to Women is looking for nominations or re-nominations for the 2019 award honoring those who selflessly give their time and energy to improve the educational and/or working environment for other women at the university.
2018 Recipient: Carrie Levitt-Bussian, collections manager of paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Utah
“I’m very, very honored and never expected to receive an award like this for the work I do in paleontology,” said Levitt-Bussian. “To me, I’m just doing my job. I don’t feel like I’m going above and beyond, I’m just doing the job I love. I like to spend time taking people on behind-the-scenes tours and teaching during job shadows and internships. It’s an amazing honor to receive this for continuing to improve the educational and working environment for women.”
Levitt-Bussian, in addition to being the museum’s paleontology collections manager, Levitt-Bussianis a full-time mentor. She offers college students a hands-on internship where participants get real lab and curation experiences handling fossils. In fact, three of her student interns actually decided to change their majors and pursue a science degree after their experiences. She also offers job shadowing to young people and mentors the museum’s many volunteers.
Since her appointment in 2013, Levitt-Bussian has expertly cared for the museum’s vast paleontology collection empowering the crew of volunteers along the way. She teaches them about the many aspects of collections so they can teach others during the museum’s annual public events such as the Behind the Scenes and DinoFest weekends.
2019 Nominations
Nominations must be made by a member of the university community (faculty, staff or student) and should include:
- A letter of nomination outlining the candidate’s commitment to improving the educational and/or working environment for women at the U.
- A brief CV, resume or biography of the candidate.
- One or more additional letters from the university community supporting the candidate.
Click here for full instructions and the list of past recipients.
Deadline for nominations is Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, at 12 p.m. Please send nomination materials electronically to amos-award@utah.edu and use the subject line “LK Amos Award Nomination.”
Linda K. Amos was the founding chair of the Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, was a professor of nursing and served for many years as dean of the College of Nursing and as associate vice president for Health Sciences. Throughout her career, she was the champion for improving the status and experience of women on campus.