糖心Vlog

The Council on Undergraduate Research (CUR) named 糖心Vlog English Professor Olivia Carr Edenfield, Ph.D., the winner of the 2025 Arts and Humanities Faculty Mentor Award. The award recognizes faculty who go above and beyond to nurture undergraduate research, scholarship and creative work.

Edenfield鈥檚 record of taking student research to new heights set her apart from a nationwide field of candidates. After joining Eagle Nation as a professor in 1986, Edenfield has helped her students become published researchers and presenters at local and national conferences. She said seeing those hardworking students excel has been her real reward.

鈥淩eceiving this award is deeply personal,鈥� Edenfield wrote in her CUR nomination statement. 鈥淢y greatest joy in teaching has come from my students鈥� successes.鈥�

During her time as associate dean for Student Affairs in the former College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS), she launched the college鈥檚 undergraduate research symposium, now known as CURIO. She also helped establish a Center for Undergraduate Research for CLASS and set up residential interest groups to encourage students to share their love of different subjects with each other.

Edenfield has helped her students achieve access to opportunities on a national level. She has served as director of the American Literature Association (ALA) since 2019, where she started a unique program that places Georgia Southern English majors in high-level administrative roles for ALA conferences. Seven of Edenfield鈥檚 students have had their work published in The Richard Macksey Journal at Johns Hopkins University. Many of her students have also presented their research at national and international conferences. 

Georgia Southern student Maegan Bishop’s presentation at the 2023 American Literature Association Annual Conference, based on research from Edenfield’s undergraduate class, was so impressive that she was invited to present her work at a conference on the short story at the University of Mainz, which covered all of her expenses.

鈥淢y own experiences with Dr. Edenfield are only a small example of the work she has done to mentor undergraduates at Georgia Southern,鈥� said Bishop. 鈥淪he is constantly doing everything in her power to assist her students with whatever they need, extending every opportunity to those who express interest in becoming more involved in literary scholarship and campus activities.鈥� 

David Owen, Ph.D., dean of the College of Arts and Humanities, emphasized how much Edenfield cares for her students, noting that her passion to help them succeed is second to none.

鈥淢entoring is not a side note to Edenfield鈥檚 career, it is the throughline,鈥� said Owen. 鈥淗er students succeed not just because of her guidance, but because she teaches them how to believe in their own voices.鈥�

The Faculty Mentor Award is the latest in a distinguished line of recognition for Edenfield. In 2016, she was named both the CURIO Mentor of the Year and the Wells-Warren Professor of the Year at Georgia Southern. She is a three-time recipient of her college鈥檚 Award for Distinction in Teaching, winning in 2016, 2020 and 2024. Edenfield was also a member of the inaugural class of the Governor鈥檚 Teaching Fellows program in 1995.