We are thrilled to announce the winners of the 2026 CAMD Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award, and the 2026 CAMD Distinguished Service Award. Congratulations to this year’s honorees!

Caleb Gayle, Associate Professor, School of Journalism
Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award

In 2025, Gayle published a monograph, Black Moses: A Saga of Ambition and the Fight for a Black State (Riverhead Books, Penguin Random House), which examines the life of 19^th-century Black political leader Edward P. McCabe. The book has had an enormous impact, receiving rave reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post and being longlisted for the National Book Award for nonfiction. Gayle regularly contributes long-form reporting to high-profile venues such as The New York Times and The Atlantic, bringing the past to bear on the present through historical research and original reporting. In addition, he co-founded the digital oral history project “I See My Light Shining Elders Project,” funded by a major grant from the Emerson Collective.

Black Moses is Gayle’s second major work of narrative nonfiction. His debut, We Refuse to Forget: A True Story of Black Creeks, American Identity, and Power (Riverhead Books), is an examination of the Creek Nation — a Native tribe that two centuries ago both enslaved and accepted Black people as full citizens — and the descendants who were later stripped of that citizenship. Gayle’s record of research has established him as one of the most compelling voices working at the intersection of journalism and history in America today. 

Amy Bryzgel, Teaching Professor, Department of Art + Design
Distinguished Service Award

Bryzgel’s service at Northeastern has been defined by her dedication to improving the governance structures of the Department of Art + Design, while contributing to important initiatives in the department, college, and university. Since 2023, she has served as Chair of Art + Design’s Executive Committee, where she has been a key leader in important and complex initiatives for the department. From 2023 to 2025, she also served as Undergraduate Coordinator and Chair of the Student Advisory Board, where she systematized the role, expanded board membership, and amplified student voices in the department newsletter and beyond. This year, she took on the role of Network Coordinator and has successfully worked to foster connections between the Boston campus and various other campuses in our network. At the university level, since 2024 she has served on the Faculty Senate’s TRACE sub-committee, working toward a more equitable process of student evaluation. Within her area of Art History and Visual Studies, Bryzgel has been an active contributor, spearheading curricular development and currently serving as Program Coordinator. Across all these areas, she has consistently contributed her leadership to support her community. 

We extend our thanks to this year’s review committees!

Excellence in Research and Creative Activity:

Ryan Ellis, Communication Studies
Sara Hendren, Art + Design
Michelle Laboy, Architecture
Gloria Sutton, Art + Design
Matthew McDonald, Music (chair)

Distinguished Service:

Michelle Carr, Communication Studies
Michelle Laboy, Architecture
Gloria Sutton, Art + Design
Kate Terrado, Art + Design
Matthew McDonald, Music (chair)