Fellows' Accolades from 2006-2007

Spring 2007

At the campus-wide ODK award ceremony, Jessica Young won the Perito Award, a $5000 award to an outstanding rising senior intending to attend graduate or professional school. The award rewards students whose Elon records exemplify the Phi Beta Kappa motto "Love of wisdom, the guide of life."  

At the same ceremony, Rebecca Hewitt was recognized with the Ella Brunk Smith Award, which is given annually to a female student in the senior class who has made significant contributions to the religious and moral life on campus.

Many Honors Fellows were recognized at the Elon College Student Excellence Award ceremony in McCrary Theatre on May 3, including:

• Austin Toman - Phi Lambda Upsilon Chemistry award.
• Vic McGlaughlin - J. Albert Carpenter Award in Computing Sciences.
• Molly Dickinson - English Scholar Award. 
• Tori Davis - Foreign Language Award for her study of Japanese.
• Amie Ritchie - Senior French Award
• Matthew Christian - Mathematics Academic Achievement Award and Mathematics Research Award.
• Alana Dunn - International Studies Outstanding Senior Award.
• Allison Genco - Emerson Philosophy Award for Outstanding Philosophical Engagement.
• Janelle Styons - Seena Granowsky Outstanding Student in Psychology Award.
• Rebecca Hewitt won the Martha Smith Award for Outstanding Senior in Women's and Gender Studies.
• Allison Arpin - Physics achievement award.

Eighteen Honors Fellows were inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, the nation's oldest academic Honor society. Inductees included: Judith Boyce, Sarah Cox, Victoria Davis, Jacqueline DelGiorno, Molly Dickinson, Kelci Flowers, Sara Gould, Alyse Knorr, Kelly McCarty, Elizabeth Myers, Kathryn M. Olinger, Allison Pariani, Katherine Parkman, Rachael Rider, Lisa Rodhe, Ian Spreat, Janelle Styons, Chelsie Wagner, Jessica Young.

First-year Fellow Kimberly Duggins presented her research conducted with Professor Stephen Schulman on the scholarship of teaching and Learning at the North Carolina State Undergraduate Assessment Symposium.

For her piece titled, "Symphony," second-year Fellow Alyse Knorr won first place (in a tie) in the Elon University Frederick Hartmann Fiction Contest. Prize winners were chosen by visiting writer Michael Parker.

Alexa Little presented her research on the Internationalization of Japanese Art at the 2007 ASIANetwork Conference. Her work was funded by a grant from the Freeman Foundation.

Honors Fellows' creativity and skills were showcased during Celebrate showcase for Student Achievements in Academics and the Arts in a variety of areas: Alyse Knorr, Sarah Cox, and Molly Dickinson in creative writing; Katie Volkerding in dance; Carin Metzger in acting; Sarah Cox in documentary filmmaking; Sarah Linn Reedy in stage managing/theatre; Jamie Gorsuch and Jon Mahlandt in vocal performance.

Twenty-two Honors Fellows were chosen to make presentations at Elon’s Student Undergraduate Research Forum.  The presentations were held on Tuesday, April 24. Presenters included seniors Caitlin Brilhart, Matthew Christian, Alana Dunn, Anna Leer, Abbey Lepley, Alex Linville, Cara Loose, Kali Marquardt, Adrienne Oak, Katie Olinger, Andrea Spaeth (giving two presentations), Janelle Styons, Laura Tillestrand, John Walker, Chris Weitzen, and Lindsay Westerfield. Third-year Fellows presenting at SURF included Jackie Del Giorno, Molly Dickinson, Alexa Little, and Jessica Young.  Second-year Fellows included Tori Davis, Alyse Knorr and Kelly McCarty.

Chelsie Wagner was chosen as one of ten students nationwide for the Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates in Marine Science at Bodega Marine Laboratory (University of California – Davis).

Larissa Ferretti was selected for the University of South Florida's National Science Foundation-sponsored Hurricane Research Experience for Undergraduates summer program.

Adrienne Oak presented her thesis research at the Regional Phi Alpha Theta History conference, and won the award for best paper at the conference.

Andrea Spaeth presented her work at the Symposium for Young Neuroscientists and Professors of the Southeast (SYNAPSE) conference held at Davidson College.

Lindsay Westerfield presented her work at the annual conference of the Society for Applied Anthropology in Tampa, Florida.

Abbey Lepley and Allison Genco presented their research at the Eastern Economic Association conference.

Adam Frank presented his research in a poster session at the Water Resources Research Institute in Raleigh.

An impressive number of Honors Fellows were accepted to present their work at the competitive National Conference on Undergraduate Research.  This includes seniors Will Allen (Chemistry), Caitlin Brilhart (Psychology), Erin Culp (Communications), Alana Dunn (International Studies), Alex Linville (History), Amie Ritchie (International Studies), Christopher Weitzen (Computing Sciences), Lindsay Westerfield (Spanish) and Penelope Wilkinson (Political Science).  Second-year Fellow Austin Toman will also be presenting at the conference, which will be held at Dominican University in San Rafael, California from April 10-12.  Third-year Fellow Jessica Young had two presentations accepted.

Graduate Mary Caruso ('06) won a prestigious Department of Defense Fellowship for the next three years of graduate study in Chemistry at the University of Illinois.

Graduate Lindsay Andrews ('06) won the Charlotte Mecklenburg First Year Teacher of the Year Award for the entire school system.

The students in the 3rd floor Virginia Honors learning community applied for and won a $2000 grant from the Office of Residence Life to be used for a trip to Washington, D.C.

Carin Metzger (BFA Acting) played Gino in the production A Day In Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine.  Jordan Frederick worked the Follow Spots and Christopher Staskel and Amy Duncan worked on the Deck Crew.

Third-year Fellow Lisa Rohde helped organize a Winter Term "Dorm Storm" to raise money for the homeless.

Molly Dickinson (second-year Fellow, English Creative Writing), was chosen to introduce Frank McCourt at his Question and Answer session.

Will Warihay participated in the Elon mock trial team that finished fifth (out of 22 teams) in a tournament held in Arizona in January. Warihay won honors as the tournament's third-best attorney.

Fall 2006    

Two Honors Fellows were awarded Rawls grants, which are given to the university's top research students by the Undergraduate Research Program. Sarah Cox's grant was for her documentary project with mentor Brooke Barnett, "At the Left Hand of God." Jessica Young's award is for her project, "The Cultural and Familial Influences on Personal Narratives in Adolescence."

Honors Fellows in 3rd Floor Virginia won first place in the Learning Community challenge with 1001 points.  The Honors Pavilion came in a respectable third place with 776 points in the competition sponsored by Residence Life.

Austin Toman presented findings from his research at the Southeast Region Meeting of the American Chemical Society.

4th-year Fellows Anna Leer and Cara Loose and 3rd-year Fellows Judy Boyce, Kate Parkman, and Becky Williams were inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the national honor society for Business.

Two Honors Fellow Computer Science majors competed on Elon's teams at the Mid-Atlantic ACM Regional Programming Contest. Vic McGlaughlin's team came in 54th out of 142 teams, and Chris Weitzen's team came in 21st place.

Senior Rebecca Hewitt gave a presentation of her thesis research at an international conference, the Association of Research on Mothering, in Toronto in late October.

First-year Fellows Julia Roberts and Lisa Bodine were invited to join a small number of students and faculty in representing Elon at a Carnegie Foundation conference in Washington, D.C. in early November.

Many Honors Fellows were inducted into Phi Eta Sigma, the national honor society that recognizes outstanding academic performance in a student's first year.  Inductees included:

Erin Barnett, Brian Beaty, Katherine Branston, Daniel Brown, Grace Chao, Victoria Davis, Breanna Detwiler, Larissa Ferretti, Sarah Findle, Alyse Knorr, Corinna Landon, Katherine Lee, Kelly McCarty, Victor McGlaughlin, Sara Portoghese, Anna Reynal, Rachael Rider, Anna Shine, Ian Spreat, Katie Volkerding, and Rebecca Watts.

Fourth-year Fellows Andrea Spaeth, Will Allen, Penelope Wilkinson, and Adam Frank served as Phi Eta Sigma officers at the Phi Eta Sigma induction ceremony.

The Geographic Bulletin published an article senior Rebecca Hewitt co-authored with faculty member Heidi Frontani. "Ideologies of Land and Place: Gikuyu and Settler Colonist Women in Kenya" resulted from their summer research experience in 2005.