FAU Celebrates 51st Annual Honors Convocation Awardees

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By brittany sylvestri | 4/15/2020

Florida Atlantic University President John Kelly and Provost Bret Danilowicz today announced the recipients of the 51st annual Honors Convocation awards. The celebration recognizes the University’s most outstanding students and faculty.

“It is with regret that we cannot be together in person to recognize those deserving individuals who have worked so hard on their achievements,” said Danilowicz. “However, a digital program has been developed to celebrate our award winners.”

Awards and recognition include nine University scholars, the Distinguished Student award, the University Club Merit award, the Phi Kappa Phi scholar, the Stan and Renee Wimberly scholar, the Undergraduate Researchers awards, the Student-Athletes of the Year awards, and the Fraternity and Sorority scholars. Faculty honors include the FAU Alumni Association’s Degree of Difference Award, Researchers and Scholars of the Year awards, Teaching and Advising awards, as well as the Distinguished Mentor of the Year in Undergraduate Research award, and the Presidential Awards for Engaged Faculty.

The winner of the Distinguished Teacher of the Year award is determined by FAU students. This year’s recipient is Jennifer Foster, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in the Schmidt College of Medicine. Dr. Foster is a physician who specializes in internal medicine, dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases of the adult patient.  She exposes her students to inpatient and outpatient experiences in medicine and surgery.

2020 Florida Atlantic University Honors Convocation Awardees

University Scholars

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Isabel Hidalgo
College of Business | Sukhdeep Kaur
College for Design and Social Inquiry | Thais Dias
College of Education | Lauren Rahgozar
College of Engineering and Computer Science | Nazik Almazova
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College | Alyssa Payne
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing | Victoria Falcone
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Kenneth Dowling

Distinguished Student Award

College of Engineering and Computer Science | Brandon Yu

Fraternity and Sorority Scholars

Pi Kappa Phi Fraternity | Luke Turner
Theta Phi Alpha Sorority | Casey Tetter

Phi Kappa Phi Scholar

College of Engineering and Computer Science | Riddhi Parsana

Student-Athletes of the Year

Track & Field | Anne-Catherine Wasser
Soccer | Hagay Jalon

University Club Merit Award

Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College | Sunil Raju

Stan and Renee Wimberly Scholar

College for Design and Social Inquiry | Anne-Catherine Wasser

Undergraduate Researchers of the Year

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters | Jessica Olivier
College of Business | Xana Kira Nash
College for Design and Social Inquiry | Laura Eugene
College of Education | Kelly Thomas
College of Engineering and Computer Science | Tucker Hindle
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College | Vineet Reddy
Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine | Anastasia Tyulmenkova
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing | Katie Abel
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science | Gary Drotleff

Alumni “Degree of Difference” Award

Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing | Lisa Wiese, Ph.D.

University Researchers of the Year

Mike Twardowski, Ph.D., Professor
Harbor Branch Research Institute

Erik Engeberg, Ph.D., Associate Professor
College of Engineering and Computer Science

Waseem Asghar, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
College of Engineering and Computer Science

Scholars of the Year

Allan Barsky, Ph.D., Professor
College for Design and Social Inquiry

Ilaria Serra, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Behnaz Ghoraani, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
College of Engineering and Computer Science

Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Teaching

Geraldine Blattner, Ph.D., Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Karen Dye, Ph.D., College of Business
Kevin Lanning, Ph.D., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Tarsha Jones, Ph.D., Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing

Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Advising

Dorran Glasser, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Tayler Kung, College of Engineering and Computer Science
Abdula Newman, University Advising Services

Distinguished Mentor of the Year in Undergraduate Research

Monica Escaleras, Ph.D., College of Business

Presidential Awards for Engaged Faculty

Melanie Acosta, Ph.D., College of Education
Jacqueline Fewkes, Ph.D., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Cheryl Krause-Parello, Ph.D., Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing

The Distinguished Teacher of the Year

Jennifer Foster, M.D. 
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine 

-FAU-

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