COLLEGE OF

Education and Human Development

Rising Alumni Award

The Rising Alumni Award recognizes young professionals who earned their degree from CEHD within the last 10 years, have made a significant impact in their profession or community at large and have achieved early distinction as leaders.

Award recipients will be honored at the CEHD Exceptional Alumni Awards Celebration on Thursday, April 30 at McNamara Alumni Center.

If you have any questions, please contact us at cehdas@umn.edu or 612-625-5963.

2026 Rising Alumni Award Recipients

Tara Kulkami headshot

Tara Kulkarni (MA ’20 and PhD ’21, educational psychology)
 

Dr. Tara Kulkarni is a school psychologist and a tenure track professor at Cal State Monterey Bay. She helps schools use data to support decision making and intervention planning to improve literacy and math outcomes within multi-tiered systems of support. 
 

Read the full profile for Tara Kulkarni

Na Zhang (PhD ’18, family social science)
 

Dr. Na Zhang is an assistant professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Sciences at the University of Connecticut. She directs the Family Resilience and Mindfulness Empowerment (FRAME) Lab, which develops, evaluates, and implements mindfulness-based family interventions to promote mental health and well-being among high-risk families. 
 

Read the full profile for Na Zhang

Na Zhang headshot

Previous rising alumni award recipients

    2025 recipients
    2024 recipients
    2023 recipients
    2022 recipients
    2021 recipients
    2019 recipients
    2018 recipients