Religious Studies alumna wins Honor Society National Award

Religious Studies alumna Victoria Oakley '18 has received the 2018 Theta Alpha Kappa Faculty Representative's Award.

The 2018 Faculty Representative’s Award has been given by the Religious Studies Honor Society Theta Alpha Kappa to Victoria Oakley ‘18.

Victoria Oakley '18, recipient of the Theta Alpha Kappa Faculty Representative's Award
Oakley was a religious studies and history double major, a leader in a strong cohort of majors in the Religious Studies Department, and according to her professors, a joy to teach and mentor. As an Honors Fellow, she completed a two-year undergraduate thesis under the mentorship of Professor Lynn R. Huber titled “Rome’s Vestal Mother: Analyzing the Sex, Gender, and Power Dynamics of Rhea Silvia’s Rape within Augustan Culture.”

Oakley was named both a Powell Scholar and a Provost Scholar for this research project, and she presented her findings at the Spring 2018 National Conference of Undergraduate Research at the University of Central Oklahoma. Senior Lecturer L.D. Russell writes that “it has been a distinct pleasure working alongside Victoria in her role as president of Elon’s Alpha Tau chapter of Theta Alpha Kappa this year. My faculty colleagues and I see good and quite possibly great things in store for her future!” 

Prior to her graduation, Oakley shared these thoughts: “Having been inducted as a member of TAK during my junior year and transitioning to the position of president for my senior year, I’ve found this society to be an integral part of my connection to the field of Religious Studies as an undergraduate. Working with Professor Russell through my position as TAK president, my commitment to the study of religion has only grown as I’m about to graduate.”