Liberal Arts Voices

Read the perspectives of our current students

Meet the Summer 2010 Liberal Arts Student Marshal

by

The College of the Liberal Arts has chosen Allison Baker as the College Student Marshal for the summer 2010 commencement ceremony and she will receive her diploma on stage on behalf of all the students in the college. Allison chose Jose Soto, Assistant Professor of Psychology, to accompany her as her Faculty Marshal.

Allison is from Lebanon, Pennsylvania, and is the daughter of Tracey Allgier-Baker and Paul Baker. A Schreyer scholar, she will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and a minor in International Studies. Allison was the recipient of the President’s Freshman and Sparks awards and an Academic Excellence Scholarship. She presented her thesis research at this year’s Undergraduate Research Exhibition and won Honorable Mention for Information Literacy. Allison studied abroad in Belgium, was a research assistant for several faculty members, and completed an internship with the Center for Mental Health at Quittie Glen in Annville, Pennsylvania.

The summer undergraduate commencement ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. in the Bryce Jordan Center.

A Wonderful Day and A Word of Thanks

by


Robin and Andrea
Originally uploaded by Christopher Long

A lot of excellent work went in to making today a wonderful celebration for our graduates from the College of the Liberal Arts. Of course, our students did an enormous amount of work to earn their degrees. And they earned a celebration worthy of their accomplishments.

The Liberal Arts Undergraduate Studies staff gave them just such a celebration today!

Robin Robinson is the master organizer of graduation for the College of the Liberal Arts. She and her staff on the Records side of our office, Andrea Crews, Tanya Hockman and Sarah Derber, organized all the tents, food, diplomas, ceremonies and celebrations that we enjoyed so thoroughly today.

There were also a number of other members of the LAUS staff who worked today during the graduation celebration, including Holly Dickey, Mary Fleming, Ashley Tarbet, Earl Merritt, and Jillian Balay (aka @LAUSatPSU).


Holly and the Leftovers
Originally uploaded by Christopher Long

We also had a number of student advisors helping with the graduation ceremony itself at the BJC: Mary Cameron, Julianna Chaszar, Shery Crater, Rebekka Egger, Tracey Melnick, Whitney Merinar, Maureen Mulenga, Courtney Orr, Charlene Peters, Katelyn Perry, Karen Sones, Marie Villefranche.

Before I became Associate Dean for Undergraduate Studies at the College, I came to graduation and enjoyed the spirit of celebration and accomplishment. Now that I see all the work that goes into putting such an event together, I am struck by how lucky we are to have such a professional, organized and talented staff.

A sign of their success is the degree to which no one notices all the little things that are done behind the scene to make the event run smoothly. The danger of this sort of success is that the hard work and excellent organization that goes into it will not be recognized.

So, on behalf of all the graduates of the College of the Liberal Arts and for the faculty and administration too, I would like to thank Robin first and foremost, and also the rest of my excellent staff, who made this truly a day to remember.

It was wonderful to have Robin join us on Liberal Arts Voices episode 9 to talk about graduation. On that episode, you can also hear Nikki Hatza, our College Marshal, who gave a marvelous valedictorian speech this evening, talk about her Penn State experience. If you want to learn more about Ron Suskind, who also gave a well received speech tonight, take a look at his personal website and his wikipedia page. 

Personally, I am grateful for the help Robin gave me with the names of the student marshals I had to read (I hope I did justice to them this evening) and for her tips about how best to keep an excited crowd in order.  I am also grateful to Ashley and Jillian for helping me practice the World Campus Graduation talk I gave today. 

In all, it was a beautiful day for a celebration of excellent students.  Congratulations to all our graduates and thank you to the staff that made this day a great success.

Here are some images from the day:

 

Liberal Arts Voices: Episode 9

by


Liberal Arts Voices: Episode 9
Originally uploaded by LAUSatPSU

This episode of Liberal Arts Voices features all things related to the College of the Liberal Arts commencement.  CLA graduation coordinator extraordinaire Robin Robinson joins the program to discuss what we should be expecting at the Liberal Arts undergraduate commencement ceremony that will be held Saturday, May 15, 2010.   Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Ron Suskind is the 2010 Liberal Arts commencement speaker and will also be receiving an honorary degree from the college. 

College of the Liberal Arts marshal Nikki Hatza also sits down with Liberal Arts Voices to discuss her role in this weekend’s graduation ceremony.  She talks about the speech she will be giving to her fellow Liberal Arts graduates tomorrow.  Nikki also points out some of the most transformative experiences she had as an undergraduate student in the College of the Liberal Arts, including a study abroad trip to Ecuador and her involvement with the Race Relations Project. 

Lastly, Jillian Balay reminds all Liberal Arts graduating seniors to complete the CLA Graduating Senior Survey. 

Liberal Arts Voices: Episode 9

To subscribe to Liberal Arts Voices through iTunes, click here.

We encourage all of our listeners to write to us with comments, questions, or suggestions at laus@la.psu.edu. We may even respond to these comments on the next episode of Liberal Arts Voices.

We talked a bit about the trailer for SOC119, Sam Richards’ course.  Here it is:

Graduation Marshals Announced

by

The College of the Liberal Arts recently had a practice for all the students who will be representing the College and departments in our commencement ceremony. Each spring, our departments nominate a student to represent their students in the commencement ceremony. These students are chosen for this honor not only on the basis of their excellent scholarship but also on other factors such as: academic enrichment opportunities (study abroad, research, and internships), extracurricular activities, and community service/volunteering. We are always excited and awed by the caliber of these students and their commitment to their education and their community, and this year is no exception.

The student representing the entire college is Nikki Hatza. Nikki is receiving degrees in Women’s Studies, Spanish, and International Studies as well as a Business/Liberal Arts minor. She studied abroad in Ecuador and completed two internships, one with the Washington Peace Center. She was a facilitator for the Race Relations Project, fundraising chair for Amnesty International, and co-founder of Knitivism, a student group that organizes events related to human rights. Ms. Hatza will work for Teach for America before pursuing a graduate degree.

Our department marshals and their faculty escorts are:
 

  • ANTHROPOLOGY–Melody Hollinger, accompanied by Claire Milner
  • ASIAN STUDIES PROGRAM–Michelle Farkas, accompanied by Gregory Smits
  • CLASSICS AND ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN STUDIES–Ashley Dolla, accompanied by Aaron Rubin
  • COMMUNICATION ARTS AND SCIENCES–Anthony Hemming, accompanied by Aaron Rubin
  • COMPARATIVE LITERATURE–Sarita Mizin, accompanied by Sydney Aboul-Hosn
  • CRIME, LAW, AND JUSTICE–Jessica Welsh, accompanied by Michael Massoglia
  • ECONOMICS–Thomas Conkling, accompanied by David Shapiro
  • ENGLISH–Claire Slagis, accompanied by Robert Caserio
  • FRENCH AND FRANCOPHONE STUDIES–Arielle Hesse, accompanied by B�n�dicte Monicat
  • GERMANIC AND SLAVIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES–Anna Kulik, accompanied by Galina Khmelkova
  • HISTORY (including RELIGIOUS STUDIES, MEDIEVEL STUDIES, JEWISH STUDIES, AND LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES)–Edward Schwab, accompanied by Benjamin Hudson
  • LABOR STUDIES AND EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS–Michael Wasser, accompanied by Paul Clark
  • PHILOSOPHY–Tony Arnold, accompanied by Michael Paradiso-Michau
  • POLITICAL SCIENCE–Boris Veltman, accompanied by Suzanne Chod
  • PSYCHOLOGY–Zachary Infantolino, accompanied by Kenneth Levy
  • SOCIOLOGY–Carolyn Weber, accompanied by David Baker
  • SPANISH, ITALIAN, AND PORTUGUESE–Max Freeman, accompanied by Giuli Dussias
  • WOMEN’S STUDIES–Farnaz Farhi, accompanied by Alyssa Garcia

Please take the opportunity to congratulate these deserving individuals for being chosen from the approximately 1,350 students who are graduating this semester.

Skip to toolbar