Vetter Praised as Deserving Recipient of Reynolds Leadership Award

Lara Vetter, professor of English in the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, was presented with the 2020 Thomas L. Reynolds Leadership Award this week in a ceremony postponed from spring. The award honors her many contributions to student success and graduate program management.

As director of graduate studies for the Department of English and advisor to the English Graduate Student Association, Vetter has helped students access resources and find opportunities to present their research and network with graduate students from other universities. She is an advocate for graduate education at UNC Charlotte and an exemplary leader of the Master’s in English program.

“Our Graduate Program Directors are faculty who not only excel in teaching and advising, but take responsibility for making graduate education grow and prosper in their program,” said Associate Provost and Graduate School Dean Tom Reynolds. “This award gives us a way to highlight and acknowledge our very best leaders and their accomplishments.”

Dr. Vetter’s intentionality and welcoming personality is what drew me to UNC Charlotte. Almost a year ago now, I called her from a coffee shop in a small town in Alabama, and she remembered me from email exchanges that we had had months before. Since then, she’s been an invaluable resource as I’ve begun to navigate both grad school and UNC Charlotte. She’s already gone above and beyond to help me feel equipped to enter the M.A. English program all while during a pandemic. Abigail Olive

Vetter joined UNC Charlotte in 2005 as an assistant professor. Her research and teaching focus on Modernism, Modern and Contemporary Poetry and Life Writing, and Gender and Sexuality. Her books include A Curious Peril: H.D.’s Late Modernist Prose