2014/2015 Award Recipients

Kelly Nielsen (Sociology)

Kelly Nielsen is a highly creative, committed, and respected teacher and a socially conscious scholar. He has had a truly distinguished teaching career at UC San Diego in large part because he has developed his teaching practice and philosophy in conjunction with his graduate research in educational access, aspirations, and achievement. His scholarship is essential not only to sociology but also to the students he teaches. Mr. Nielsen constantly reflects on the mechanisms that continue to marginalize and ignore disenfranchised communities. He is also committed to participating in the solution by engaging in scholarly work that calls for social change, mentoring future generations of scholars, and advocating for equitable access to learning opportunities, especially for marginalized students. Mr. Nielsen embodies academic and teaching excellence, leadership, and a commitment to social justice education.