Dean Kitto Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award
The Dean Kitto Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award recognizes an inspirational graduate student who, through their service as a teaching assistant, made outstanding contributions to student learning. The award is made possible by an endowment established by Dean Emerita Kathy Kitto and her husband Dennis Waller.
About Dean Emerita Kathy Kitto and Dennis Waller
Kathleen Kitto served as Dean of the Graduate School and Vice Provost for Research from 2013-2017. At Western, Kitto also served as associate dean of Western’s College of Sciences and Technology from its inception in 2003 until 2011 and was special assistant to the Provost for Strategic Initiatives from 2011 through 2013. She is a professor of Engineering Technology and served as chair of that department for seven years. She also served as director of Western’s Advanced Materials Science and Engineering Center.
Dennis Waller is the husband of Dean Emerita Kitto who together made a foundational gift to provide resources to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of graduate students at Western and to promote their success through the Kitto Graduate Student Hub. Before retiring, Dennis spent his career in development, and his final position was with the nation’s largest health charity.
Nominations for the 2026 Kitto Graduate Student Teaching Assistant Award are now CLOSED.
Selection Criteria
Eligibility for 2026 is limited to current graduate students who plan to complete their degrees by Spring quarter 2026, and recent alumni who completed their degrees during Summer 2025 or later. A person may receive The Dean Kitto Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award no more than once.
Award/Recognition
Award Adminstration
Nomination Process
2026
Margaret Lobo-Urias - English
Margaret N. Lobo-Urias is an instructor for English 101 in the English Department. A transfer student from Santa Monica College, she earned a B.A. in English and a minor in classics from the University of California, Los Angeles. She graduates from the English Graduate Program with an M.A. in English, June 2026.
As an instructor of English 101, she loves working with Western students as they develop and strengthen new writing skills, modes of thinking and their writing voices. Given her experience as the oldest of five in a bilingual household, she recognized her calling when she first sat in on English 101 classes and saw her colleagues teach, juggling their dual roles as writing instructor and life counselor in English 101.
Using a student-centered approach, Lobo-Urias listens, evolves, and adapts to student needs starting day one of English 101 class. From there, she challenges herself to find ways to engage each student's writing experience and writing voice in the classroom. Continually fostering a belief that every student can write, Lobo-Urias's students walk away from English 101 feeling confident they can make meaning through writing and write in different situations.