UT Southwestern

AWARDS
Distinguished Service Award
This award honors a UT Southwestern postdoctoral fellow, faculty, or staff member who has shown
extraordinary dedication to helping UT Southwestern postdoctoral scholars. The Postdoctoral Association
(PDA) is proud to announce that the recipients for this year’s award are Cathy Cavins and Cory Blaiss,
Ph.D.
Cathy Cavins joined the Graduate School staff in November 2004. With
Cathy’s assistance, both the Postdoctoral Affairs Office and the PDA at UT
Southwestern were established. Cathy was a dedicated advocate for the
postdoctoral scholars by providing them guidance in both their training
and along their career path. Her support of postdoctoral training greatly
enhanced the experience of postdoctoral scholars at UT Southwestern.
Since June 2009, Cathy has been serving the Postdoctoral Affairs Office
as a Subject Matter Expert for the Campus Solutions PeopleSoft project,
which will replace the current postdoctoral certificate registration system
next year.
Dr. Cory Blaiss joined the lab of Dr. Craig Powell in the Department of
Cathy Cavins
Neurology as a postdoctoral scholar in 2008. Shortly after coming to UT
Southwestern, Cory enthusiastically volunteered for many PDA committees. Her most prominent and
passionate involvements include, President (2008-2009), Co-chair of the Career Development Committee
(2008-2010), Treasurer (2009-2010), and postdoctoral departmental representative for the Department of
Neurology. Cory also demonstrated untiring dedication and enthusiasm as a member of the Symposium,
Standards, and Outreach committees. Her initiative was evident in the ideas she implemented after
attending the annual National Postdoc Association (NPA) meeting in
2009 as well as her pioneering contributions towards workshops on
negotiations skills, peer-mentoring discussions and updating the PDA
travel awards. In addition to the PDA committees, Cory served on the
Student/Trainee Subcommittee of the UT Southwestern Six-Year Planning
Committee (2009-2010). Cory continues to be an active member of the
Advocacy Committee of the NPA. It is her remarkable leadership qualities
that serve as a role model for other postdoctoral scholars.
Together with faculty members, both Cathy and Cory have served on the
Postdoctoral Advisory Committee. We take this opportunity to thank
Cathy and Cory for their dedicated and selfless efforts to advocate for
all postdoctoral scholars and for their help in bringing the PDA and
Postdoctoral Symposium to where they stand today.
Cory Blaiss, Ph.D.
Previous winners of the Distinguished Service Award:
2010 Brenda Timmons, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow, Dept. of Ob/Gyn (2003-2009)
2008 Sue Harjo Director of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs (2003-2008)