Congratulations to Ginny Cress who was recently accepted into the graduate program in Clinical Psychology at the University of Alaska Anchorage!
Congratulations to Chris Hall (Political Science), who upon the review of the Commencement Speaker Committee, has been selected as the 2005 Commencement Speaker!
Erin Trimble (Psychology) was selected as the recipient of the 2005 UAA Consortium Library Prize. Trimble was selected on the basis of her intensive exploration of journal literature from multiple databases and for her utilization of primary resources in the completion of her research paper entitled "An Examination of Circadian Rhythms and Self-Reported Grades of High School Students." Trimble will receive a $500 cash prize and her paper will be catalogued in the Consortium Library collection.
Spring 2005 University Honors Scholar Echo Oliver was recently accepted into the George Mason University School of Law, which is currently ranked among the top ten law schools by the Social Science Research Network. George Mason has been a pioneer in providing its students with three core competencies that are often neglected at more traditional institutions: the legal application of economic tools and methods, intensive development of legal writing skills, and specialized substantive preparation for practice. George Mason's intellectual property law curriculum has gained national recognition.
Adrianne Knott was selected as a winner of UAA's 2005 Student Showcase on the basis of her project “Homo Sovieticus: Survival & Optimism in Stalinist Russia.” This project was completed within the context of History 425: the Soviet Union, taught by Dr. Liz Dennison. Adrianne's work will be published in the 2005 Showcase Journal and DVD.
Honors senior Lindsay Eberhardt and her teammate Dana Ovsak ended the U.S. Universities Debating Championships ranked as quarterfinalists. Overall, the Seawolf Speech and Debate team took top honors at the inaugural championships held recently in Claremont, CA. Over thirty-five teams from around the country participated in this competition.
Congratulations to University Honors students Christopher Hall, Cassie Iutzi-Mitchell, Lynda Hernandez, Zeljka Jutric, Erin Trimble and Adrianne Knott for being selected to receive 2004-05 Student Leadership Honors. Each of these graduating seniors will be honored for their leadership contributions and academic achievements to the University of Alaska Anchorage community!
Ben Nolting was awarded the Barry Goldwater Scholarship on the basis of his research in the area of homotopy analysis method in nonlinear dynamics. Ben's research focused on ways to optimally apply this method to certain classes of problems, including Volterra's integro-differential population model. This application was of particular interest to Ben due to his fascination of mathematical biology. Ben acknowledges Drs. Kamal Narang, Len Smiley, and Larry Foster for enabling him to win this prestigious scholarship!
Cassie Iutzi-Mitchell, a senior majoring in Languages with an emphasis in Spanish, has been awarded a highly competitive and prestigious Fulbright Research Grant to travel to Ecuador to research the availability of interpreting services for monolingual speakers of Quechua in medical clinics in Quito. She will be working in conjunction with an Ecuadorian linguistic anthropologist during this phase of the project. Winner of a 2004-05 UAA Undergraduate Research Grant to conduct the first phase of her project, Cassie researched the availability of interpreting services for monolingual speakers of Spanish in the Anchorage community. Upon her return from Ecuador, Cassie will write up the results of her research both in Anchorage and in Ecuador and will submit them for publication. Congratulations also to Cassie's faculty mentors, Language professors Francisco Miranda and Patricia Fagan, and to adjunct professor Enrique Quintero for their support throughout the application process.
Honors Program graduate Nick Armstrong-Crews has been accepted into a Ph.D. program in Robotics at Carnegie-Mellon University in Fall 2005. Carnegie Mellon’s Ph.D. programs were ranked by US News in 2005 as first in Computer Science and second in Artificial Intelligence; its Robotics Institute is the largest lab of its type in the U.S. Nick has been awarded a scholarship package worth $212,800 to attend (annual tuition and fees, plus a $2000 monthly stipend).
Spring 2005 University Honors student Zeljka Jutric was recently accepted into the University of Nevada School of Medicine (located in Reno). Only fifty-two spots are available for the entering class, five of which are reserved for students from states that do not have medical schools. Zeljka was one of the five students to be accepted. While attending medical school, Zeljka plans to get involved with the Student Outreach Clinic which is staffed by students and offers services to people who do not have health insurance.
Recent Honors graduate Brian Singler (BA Journalism and Public Communications) recently joined the KOMO Channel 13 News team as a sports reporter! In addition to anchoring the evening sportscast, Brian will provide coverage for every sport in the state of Alaska, writing his own scripts and shooting and editing all video.
University Honors Program senior Matthew Gilbert has been selected to receive a Fellowship from the National Wildlife Federation in Washington, D.C. on the basis of his research "Impact and Impressions of Global Warming on Alaska Native Communities." Matthew's primary objective will be to document the effects of global warming as observed by Gwich'in Athabascan elders and hunters in the Alaska Interior region. He plans to conduct his first-hand research in Summer, 2005. He was selected from a national competition and is among fifteen outstanding awardees. He will also attend the National Wildlife Federation's 69th Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C., March 30-April 2, 2005.
University Honors Program Student Rosey Robards has accepted a job with the Alaska Teen Media Institute. Robards works as the assistant director, teaching high school students radio, print and web journalism. Teens at the institute produce a half-hour radio program each month that airs on KSKA 91.1 FM, as well as their own newsletter and a website at www.alaskateenmedia.org.
UAA Honors Program student Lindsey Eberhardt was recognized as the third speaker at the recent Dugaw/Iverson Debate Tournament, hosted by the University of Portland. The team of Eberhardt and Michael Rose emerged as one of the strongest teams at the tournament, helping the Seawolf Debate Team advance to the quarterfinals.
UAA Biological Sciences major and Honors Program student Reem Sheikh is the recipient of a 2005 Alaska INBRE USPS Award for her proposal "Contribution of Activated Aryl Hydrocarbon receptor to Mucin Gene Expression Associated with Asthma." Sheikh will receive $1500 which funds research expenses and a student stipend.
Ben Nolting was a presenter at the Mathematical Association of America's (MAA) 2004 Pacific Northwest meeting, held on the UAA campus June 24th-26th. His presentation, entitled "Constructive Proofs using Homotopy Methods," focused on the differential topology field of mathematics. Over 200 mathematicians from across the nation and overseas were in attendance, including MAA president Ronald Graham and noted lecturer I. Martin Isaacs.
2004 University Honors Scholar Carmen Hanson (B.S. Biological Sciences) has accepted a Research Assistant position in a cancer lab at the University of North Dakota focusing on the development of cancer vaccines.
Honors students Chris Hall and Michael Blanton were elected to serve as the 2004-2005 President and Vice President of the UAA Union of Students, respectively. Also, Honors students Zeljka Jutric, Samantha Barnhill, and Elizabeth Percak-Dennett, were elected by their fellow students to serve as Senators, and Reem Sheikh will chair the Board of Cultural Affairs.
Honors student Jennifer Davis will serve as the UAA Chapter President of the Golden Key International Honour Society. Golden Key recognizes and encourages superior scholarship in all undergraduate fields of study, and has over 300 chapters worldwide. This Honour Society is open to juniors and seniors of all majors with a cumulative GPA of 3.50 and higher.
In addition to being crowned Miss Alaska National Teen-Ager 2004, Kristen Hamerski won the Interview, GPA, School/Community Involvement, and Essay categories, and was the recipient of numerous college tuition scholarships. Kristin is an active volunteer for the Special Olympics, serving as a Global Messengers Speech Coach and a Figure Skating Coach. Currently, she is Secretary for the Lt. Governor’s Faith-based and Community Initiatives Task Force and serves on the Board of Directors for the Teen Action Council of The Spirit of the Youth Foundation, which recognizes youth statewide as positive role models. Kristin also writes a regular column for Practical Homeschooling Magazine titled “ Winning Ways.”
Mandy Yan was a recipient of the Turnagain Visual Arts Award for her submission of her photograph, “Lion’s Eye,” which is currently published in the latest issue of Understory, UAA’s undergraduate literary magazine.
UAA Honors Program student Brian Singler is the winner of the 2004 Alaska Press Women’s Memorial Scholarship. The $1000 award is presented each year to promising student journalists in Alaska. To qualify, Singler had to submit several published clips and letters of recommendation along with his application. He will receive his award at a special Alaska Press Women’s awards banquet May 6. Singler is a senior in Journalism and Public Communications with an emphasis in Telecommunication and Film. Singler currently works for the Associated Press of Alaska, the student newspaper, the Northern Light, and is a freelance hockey writer. He also works in radio for the Anchorage Bucs and has completed internships in the news Department at 91.1 FM KSKA and the sports department at KTUU Channel 2. He plans to obtain a Master’s Degree from the Columbia School of Journalism before pursuing a career in sports broadcasting.
