story by Claire Miller
Georgia State University has recognized College of Education & Human Development Associate Professor Natalie King and Professor Terri Pigott for their achievement and excellence.
The university’s Office of Faculty Affairs named King the 2025 recipient of its Outstanding Tenure Track Faculty Achievement Award, which recognizes a faculty member for outstanding achievements across all three areas of scholarship, teaching and service.
King’s scholarly work focuses on advancing Black girls in STEM education, community-based STEM programs and the role of curriculum in fostering equity in science teaching and learning. In 2023, she was the first educator to receive the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Alan T. Waterman Award, the nation’s highest honor for early career scientists and engineers. She is also an NSF Early CAREER Award recipient whose research elevates the identities and brilliance of Black girls in her scholarship, programs and grant projects. King is the founder and executive director of I AM STEM, LLC, which partners with community-based organizations to provide Black and Brown children with access to comprehensive academic summer enrichment programs that embrace their cultural experiences while also preparing them to become productive and critically conscious citizens. Her work has been published in the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education, the Journal of Multicultural Affairs, The Science Teacher and Teaching and Teacher Education.
“I am truly humbled and grateful to be recognized with the Outstanding Tenure Track Faculty Achievement Award from Georgia State University,” she said. “As I enter my 10th year, I remain deeply grateful for the opportunity to do work that I love – teaching, building community and conducting research that bridges scholarship and service. This award affirms my commitment to showing up fully as myself, challenging traditional notions of impact and creating a tenure journey that reflects integrity, care and a transformative vision for what academia can be.”
Pigott is one of seven Georgia State faculty members who have been appointed Distinguished University Professors.
The Distinguished University Professor designation is given to faculty members who have a sustained and outstanding record in scholarship and instruction and to provide the impetus for continuing high achievement. They are expected to serve the university as exemplary faculty members by contributing to its research, instructional and service missions.
Pigott is a professor in the college’s Department of Educational Policy Studies. Her research focuses on methodological advances in systematic review and meta-analysis. She has publications focused on outcome reporting bias in education research, methods for addressing problems of missing data in meta-analysis and estimating power for meta-analysis models. Pigott was named a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association in 2023 and received the Frederick Mosteller Award for Distinctive Contributions to Systematic Reviewing from the Campbell Collaboration in 2016.
“I am deeply honored to receive this recognition from Georgia State University,” she said. “I’m especially grateful to my students and colleagues whose support has been invaluable to my teaching and research.”
Pigott joins several other CEHD faculty members who have been appointed Distinguished University Professors, including Deron Boyles, Jennifer Esposito, Daphne Greenberg, David Houchins, Cynthia Puranik and Kris Varjas.