New Mexico State University biology professor Kathryn Hanley was selected as the 2026 Professor of the Year by Conference USA, an NCAA Division I athletic conference. CUSA is made up of universities primarily located in the Southern and Western United States that compete at the highest level of college sports.
The 2026 CUSA Professor of the Year was voted on by the member institution’s provosts. The award comes with plaque and $15,000 to be presented in the fall at an athletic event chosen by NMSU.
“All of the CUSA nominees are amazing,” Hanley said. “I am pleased to be honored, but anyone on that list could have been the winner. I think when students look at a university, having award-winning professors makes a difference when they make choices. That’s their gateway into knowing the professor better and knowing what they can learn from them. It also gives them a sense of confidence in the quality of the professors.”
The conference initiated the award in 2024. Hanley is the third recipient. She was among 11 faculty nominated for the honor from each of the universities in CUSA, which includes University of Delaware, Florida International University, Jacksonville State University, Kennesaw State University, Liberty University, Louisiana Tech University, Middle Tennessee University, Missouri State University, NMSU, Sam Houston State University and Western Kentucky University.
Hanley, a professor with 21 years of service at NMSU, is internationally recognized as a leading expert in the ecology and evolution of arboviruses (e.g., dengue, Zika, chikungunya) and emerging infectious diseases and has trained dozens of students and early-career scientists who now hold positions in academia, government and industry around the world.
“As a supervisor and mentor, I most appreciated the balance between her trust in my expertise and the autonomy she gave me,” said Hélène Cecilia, who was a postdoctoral fellow under Hanley and is now a research scientist at the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment. “She provided precious advice on what was expected of a leader in research, for the competition I was applying for in France. She, therefore, played an important role in me getting a permanent position.”
“Dr. Hanley is someone who motivated everyone around her to challenge themselves to have a true student's mentality and always have a desire for learning. She routinely challenged us to be up to date on the current literature in the field, not just what is in the textbooks, but what has been recently communicated through peer-reviewed publications,” said NMSU alumnus Ryan McNamara, principal investigator in the Systems Serology Laboratory in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. “She always led by example, and when asked a question by a student, she could reference a recent publication by a group that delved into that exact question. She would then send us the publication, and we could read up on it ourselves. She often knew the answers to our questions, but she would equip us with the information to answer them ourselves.”
Lawrence Zhou, who will receive a Ph.D. from NMSU in May, was one of Hanley’s students during his master’s program and later worked in her lab as a Ph.D. candidate.
"She is an incredible mentor,” Zhou said. “She is extremely knowledgeable, supportive and will always take time out of her busy schedule to help you. I feel very fortunate to have her as an adviser.”
Before joining NMSU, Hanley was part of a team at the National Institutes of Health that developed a vaccine for dengue virus, designed as a single shot to protect against all four types of dengue virus for at least five years. The vaccine is currently being rolled out through Brazil's public health system to 10 million people and is in the approval process this year at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hanley served on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Medical Advisory Team, providing guidance on vaccine safety and distribution while also advising NMSU leadership and engaging the public through educational outreach.
"Dr. Hanley’s excellence as a prolific researcher, respected mentor and educator, and internationally recognized expert advisor have earned her this well-deserved honor, and we are very proud of her success," said NMSU President Valerio Ferme. “I believe that the conferring of this prestigious award is another signal to potential students and new faculty members that NMSU is a place where they can successfully pursue excellence, and where everyone is robustly supported to achieve at the top of their field. We’re grateful for all that Dr. Hanley brings to her work, her students, and our university."
What’s next? Hanley is interested in conducting research in tropical Asia, but for now she’s pursuing important projects closer to home.
“We're working on viruses that are a compelling public and agricultural health interest now,” she said. “I like bringing my expertise back to benefit New Mexico. One of the things I'll be doing for the next two years is more surveillance within the state and trying to understand some of the arthropod-borne viruses that are circulating within the state so that we can optimize our own public health here at home.”
In a broader context, Hanley’s work embodies NMSU’s land-grant mission not only of research, teaching and outreach but also the kinds of service that may not always be recognized like serving on the Institutional Biosafety Committee to help other scientists conduct their research safely and making sure graduate students are having the richest experience they can have in the lab.
“Research should advance the human condition,” she said. “Virology or biology of emerging infectious diseases or science and ethics are all topics that I think about all the time, and I stay right on the edge of the field.’
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CUTLINE: Kathryn Hanley, New Mexico State University Regents professor of biology and internationally recognized expert in the ecology and evolution of arboviruses and emerging infectious diseases, was named the Conference USA 2026 Professor of the Year. (NMSU photos by Josh Bachman)