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Faculty’s dedication honored with MAC award nomination

Kluver recognized for impact on students, current and past

| Author: Eric Baerren | Media Contact: Aaron Mills

A young woman in black clothing looks down at a piece of scientific equipment sitting on a boardwalk on a beach while a woman in glasses and a maroon T-shirt looks on.
Daria Kluver, a faculty member in CMU's Earth & Atmospheric Sciences department, has a reputation for putting people out in front of her work. CMU nominated her as its 2026 Mid-American Conference Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success.

It didn’t take long for Daria Kluver to leave her imprint on Taylor Rinke.

“She was the first faculty member from the CMU meteorology department I met when I was transferring from community college, and she made me feel incredibly welcome and excited to start my degree here,” Rinke said. “She clearly cares very much about the students’ well-being and education.”

Kluver, a member of the Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, was honored for her dedication to student success with CMU’s nomination for the Mid-American Conference Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success. Each school in the MAC nominates a faculty member for the award.

Her dedication to her students doesn’t end at graduation, one of her students said.

A young man in glasses wearing a maroon graduation cap-and-gown ensemble stands next to a woman in a maroon top and black pants and long hair with a man in a black-and-maroon academic robe on his other side.
Daria Kluver, CMU's 2026 Mid-American Conference Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success, stands next to Matt Tuftedal, who said that Kluver has kept in touch since he graduated in 2017. Also in the photo is John Allen, another member of CMU's Earth & Atmospheric Sciences faculty.

“After I graduated from CMU, I kept in contact with her to discuss life in graduate school and to get her opinion on paths I should take,” said Matt Tuftedal, a 2017 graduate who is now an atmospheric measurement science specialist with Argonne National Laboratory.

Tuftedal said Kluver was particularly excited for him when he got his job and called her his favorite faculty member.

“She would regularly include students in weather balloon launches during special weather events and always had her door open to nerd out and chat,” he said.

Kluver was nominated by Wendy Robertson, chairperson of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Kluver has a reputation for developing novel ways to improve student engagement, teach core scientific concepts and aid students in developing skills critical to successful careers.

Kluver said that teaching is the best part of her job.

“Whether it's in the field, classroom, or through mentoring, the most rewarding part of my job is seeing students realize they can do hard things,” she said. “When I can help make learning feel relevant to their lives and spark genuine excitement about a subject, I am smiling all day. “

Robertson said that Kluver also helps new faculty learn how to help students.

“She regularly and generously shares her course materials and serves as a mentor to new faculty, has led several pedagogy-centered workshops at the local, regional and national scales, and convenes education research sessions at her discipline’s national conference,” she said.

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