On Tuesday, April 30, the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CASSH) celebrated its Evening of Excellence. The event ran from 6-8 p.m. with a reception from 6-6:30 p.m. It was held at the Toland Theatre in the Lowe Center of the Arts.
Pete Rydberg (He/him) was the host of the event and alongside Marie Moeller (She/they) welcomed the audience to the ceremony.
The first award presented was the Faculty Recognition of Excellence Award for Teaching. It was awarded to Sierra Rooney, associate professor of art.
The Faculty Recognition of Excellence Award for Scholarship/Creative Endeavors was given to Louise Zamparutti, associate professor of English.
The Academic Staff Recognition of Excellence Award for Teaching was given to Jessica Schweigert, assistant teaching professor of psychology
The Academic Staff Recognition of Excellence Award for Service was given to Stewart Eskew, assistant teaching professor in philosophy and Sana Illahe, assistant teaching professor in race, gender & sexuality studies.
The University Staff Recognition of Excellence Award was given to Amy Ticknor, history academic department associate.
The Recognition of Excellence Award for Community Engagement was awarded to Anthony Chergosky, assistant professor in political science and public administration.
The Recognition of Excellence Award for Inclusive Excellence was given to Tanvi Thakkar, assistant professor in psychology.
Making its debut this year, the EPIC Eagle Award was given to the Department of Psychology. This new award stands for “Exceptional Progress Increasing Career Readiness”.
Moeller presented this award and said, “The EPIC Eagle Award recognizes the significant efforts of a CASSH or VPA (Visual and Performing Arts) department who has worked diligently to infuse career readiness and eagle advantage competencies into the work that they do in their department.”
The Department of Political Science and Public Administration was also given an honorable mention and awarded the ‘Eggy Award’.
The Friend of the College Recognition of Excellence Award was given to Douglas Geiger, an alumnus of UWL who graduated from the class of 1987.
The Graduate Student Recognition of Excellence Award winners were Maya Gorges from the School of Psychology, Rachel Leopold (M.S.Ed., Student Affairs Administration) and Marco Torrez-Miranda (Ed.D., Student Affairs Administration & Leadership).
The winner of the Graduate Student Achievement Award was Nou (Noona) Xiong (M.S.Ed, Student Affairs Administration). Katie Banie from the School of Psychology was also nominated for the award.
This concluded the graduate student award section and was followed by the Undergraduate Student Recognition of Excellence Award.
Rydberg said, “For our undergraduate awards, each academic department may honor one student for every hundred majors, give or take. These awards are nominated by departments and approved by the college based on a set of criteria that includes things such as GPA, service, extracurricular activities, undergraduate research and other kinds of creative contributions to the community.”
The award winners were as follows:
Under the Archaeology and Anthropology Department were Sabrina Neurock and Sidney Paulson.
Under the Art Department were Ellen Cervantes and Marlie Voigt.
Under the Communication Studies Department were Marti Maday, Sophie Miller and Kaytlin Nething.
Under the English Department were Annika Koenen and Madeline Kozel.
Under the Global Cultures and Languages Department were Noelle Mallinger, Liv Sarasio Meyer and Bri Whitt.
Under the History Department was Riley Sebena.
Under the Music Department was Maggie Ferrando
Under the Philosophy Department was Maysa Osley.
Under the Political Science and Public Administration Department were Jenasea Hameister and Grace Lopez Johnson.
Under the Psychology department were Nicholas Bruder, Maren Hale, Abigale Hartwig, Mikayla Kurzinski, Araceli Rodriguez, Katie Sartori, Jaden Stanelle and Breanna Weiland.
Under the Race, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Department was Katherine Zeise.
Under the Sociology and Criminal Justice Department were Sophia Anger and Ellie Dietrich.
Under the Sustainability and Environmental Studies Department was Blythe Pollard.
Under the Theatre and Dance Department was Brodyn Byington.
The final award for the ceremony was the John E. Magerus Award for the Outstanding Graduating Senior. This was awarded to Leo Imhotep Chavolla Barrera.
The ceremony also hosted the dance segment, “The Bublé Suite” from Art in Motion. It was choreographed by Ashley Dobrogosz.
