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FAU Hosts 49th Annual Honors Convocation

FAU President John Kelly with Distinguished Teacher of the Year Laura Vernon

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̽����Ƶ President John Kelly and Provost Gary W. Perry will host the University’s 49th annual Honors Convocation on Wednesday, April 18 at 4 p.m. at the University Theatre in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton campus. The ceremony recognizes the University’s most outstanding students and faculty (a full list of honorees is below). 

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, which is determined by FAU students, will present the keynote speech. This year’s recipient is Laura Vernon, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology in the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College. As a clinical psychologist, Vernon’s research is on psychological disorders and their treatment. Her lab broadly examines anxiety disorders, emotion, cognition, and mindfulness. Specifically, some of her recent research projects have examined the effectiveness of a mindfulness-based, equine-assisted therapy for different clinical disorders, as well as the usefulness of brief mindfulness interventions for college students, the contributions of fear and disgust to spider phobia, and the cognitive processes of emotion and phobias.

“Honors Convocation is a longstanding and important tradition,” said Perry. “This ceremony allows us to spotlight the academic excellence of our best faculty and students.”

2018 ̽����Ƶ Honors Convocation Awardees

University Scholars

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters            Hristo Joseph
College of Business                                                     Courtney King
College for Design and Social Inquiry                          William Pfister
College of Education                                                    Fernanda Sepulveda
College of Engineering and Computer Science            Ignacio Jimenez-Ruiz
Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College                                 Liberty Boyd
Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing                           Jean-Joseph Rendel
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science                       Andrea Rodriguez

Distinguished Student Award

College for Design and Social Inquiry                       Laurice Melvin

Fraternity and Sorority Scholars

Alpha Phi Epsilon Fraternity                                       Ryan Saffer
Phi Mu Sorority                                                          Rachel Cumming

Phi Kappa Phi Scholar

College of Engineering and Computer Science            Lisandre Meyer

Student-Athletes of the Year

Football                                                                    Greg Joseph
Softball                                                                     Alexandra Miller

University Club Merit Award

Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing                         Jessie Gushue

Stan and Renee Wimberly Scholar

Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College                               Christy Folk

Undergraduate Researchers of the Year

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters            Kira Wolak

College of Business                                                     Danielle Gordon

College for Design and Social Inquiry                          Kestride Estil

College of Education                                                   Jessica Halle

College of Engineering and Computer Science            Vithulan Suthakaran

Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College                                 Anna Riso

Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine                      Haley Katz

Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing                           Alexandra Miller

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science                      Andrea Hernandez

Alumni “Degree of Difference” Award

Charles E. Schmidt College of Science                   Maria Fadiman, Ph.D.

University Researchers of the Year

Marc Kantorow, Ph.D., Professor
Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine

Andrew Oleinikov, Ph.D., Associate Professor
Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine

Sarah Du, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
College of Engineering and Computer Science

Scholars of the Year

Michael Brady, Ph.D., Professor
College of Education

Melih Madanoglu, Ph.D., Associate Professor
College of Business

Mingxiang Li, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
College of Business

Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Teaching

Oge Marques, Ph.D., College of Engineering and Computer Science
Ramesh Teegavarapu, Ph.D., College of Engineering and Computer Science
Rachel Luria, Ph.D., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College
Lisa Wiese, Ph.D., Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing

Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Advising

Sheena Orr, Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters

Jessica Meith, College of Engineering and Computer Science

Javaris Hammond, Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing

Distinguished Mentor of the Year in Undergraduate Research

Julie Earles, Ph.D., Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

Presidential Awards for Engaged Faculty

Cassandra Atkin-Plunk, Ph.D., College for Design and Social Inquiry

Sameer Hinduja, Ph.D., College for Design and Social Inquiry

Fred Bloetscher, Ph.D., College of Engineering and Computer Science

The Distinguished Teacher of the Year
Laura Vernon, Ph.D., Associate Professor
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Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College 

-FAU-

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