Each year in April, the John V. Roach Honors College hosts Honors Week to celebrate
the accomplishments of Honors students throughout the academic year. This year, Honors
Week marked a special occasion – 10 years of the Honors College!
A key component of each year’s Honors Week celebration, the Boller Award Competition, was the first major event of the week. The Boller Competition recognizes outstanding student Departmental Honors presentations and faculty judges select the winner from a group of finalists. This year’s presentations covered a wide variety of topics, from opioid addiction to racecar suspension.
The 2019 Boller Award winner was Maddie Mateer (Theatre) for her project, A SHOW OF HANDS: The Factors Necessary to Create a Successful Integration of American Sign Language in Theatrical Performances, supervised by Alan Shorter, Professor and Associate Chair of Theatre. Three Honorable Mentions were also named, including:
- Laurel Buck (Supply & Value Chain Management) – Modern Slavery in the Global Supply Chain: An Analysis of Published Preventative Frameworks and Statements to Protect Businesses and Individuals, supervised by Laura Meade, Professor of Supply Chain Practice
- Cooper Gould (Engineering) – Aerodynamic Shape Optimization of Airplane Winglet & Investigation into Morphing Winglet Technology, supervised by Robert Bittle, Associate Professor of Engineering
- Tate Truly (Biology) – Inducing Oxidative Stress Using Biotin Receptor Targeted Organometallic Compounds in Cancer Cells, supervised by Giri Akkaraju, Professor of Biology
For the second year, Honors sponsored the Convocation of Academic Excellence, which celebrates university-wide academic accomplishments. This year’s featured keynote speaker was Dr. Marion Nestle, a noted nutrition researcher and award-winning author. During her talk, Nestle touched on the topic of food politics and the wide impact that food has on a variety of major issues within our society.
Following Convocation in the evening, Honors students enjoyed dinner at the annual Honors Banquet, where outstanding students and faculty were recognized with awards. In addition to the Boller Award, the Honors Professor of the Year, two Honors Scholars, and the Phi Beta Kappa Outstanding Senior in Liberal Arts were named and the Paul Wassenich Founder’s Medal was awarded.
This year’s winners included:
- Honors Professor of the Year – Eric Simanek (A. Welch Professor of Chemistry and Department Chair, Organic Chemistry)
- Honors Scholars – Ana Lardizabal and Kalle Walker
- Phi Beta Kappa Outstanding Senior in Liberal Arts – Andreley Bjelland
- Paul Wassenich Founder’s Medal – Ann Tran
Congratulations to all! We are proud of our outstanding students and faculty alike.