Student News
Convocation Honors
USC College students received numerous awards at the university’s 25th annual Academic Honors Convocation, held March 23.
Valedictorian Kavitha Sivaraman, a biological sciences major, and chemistry major Christina To
took home the Emma Josephine Bradley Bovard awards. The Bovard Award is
named for USC’s first lady of 1903–1921, and is given to the graduating
senior woman with the highest G.P.A. as an acknowledgement of both
academic excellence and community service.
Master of Professional Writing students Cynthia Ferrell and Timothy Green
received Phi Kappa Phi Student Recognition awards. The awards are
conferred upon undergraduate and graduate students for their
outstanding artistic and academic work. Ferrell was honored for three
one-act plays, “Three on the Water,” and Green for a poetry collection
entitled The Dream Token.
Phi Beta Kappa Undergraduate awards were bestowed upon history student Emily Fetting and Kristen Taylor,
an international relations and Spanish double major. This award from
USC’s chapter of the nation’s oldest honor society rewards creativity,
scholarship and leadership in faculty-student-community relations.
Mark Lescroart (B.S.,
psychobiology, ’02), a doctoral student in neuroscience, was honored
with the Rockwell Dennis Hunt Award, given to the graduate student who
is also an alumnus and judged most representative of USC’s traditions
and objectives. As an undergraduate, Lescroart was a Renaissance
Scholar who graduated summa cum laude. In his doctoral research he uses
advanced brain imaging technology to study visual object recognition in
the human brain, examining how sensory stimulus evolves into an idea.
Physics doctoral student Katie Mussack and Candace Weddle,
a graduate student in art history, received Outstanding Teaching
Assistant awards. Both T.A.s were praised for their accessibility,
passion for teaching and charisma.
Commencement Honors
At the university’s 123rd commencement on May 12, two exceptional USC
College students sat on the dais alongside USC President Steven B.
Sample and commencement speaker Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa — 2006
valedictorian Kavitha Sivaraman, a biological sciences major with minors in bioethics and international relations, and salutatorian Kathryn Neeper,
who majored in international relations and Spanish. Sivaraman will
study at the Keck School of Medicine of USC this fall through USC’s
Baccalaureate/M.D. program. After a summer State Department internship
in Ecuador, Neeper will enter George Washington University’s graduate
international affairs program this fall.
During the main commencement ceremony, Sample recognized the
Renaissance Scholars, students whose achievement in disciplines widely
separated across the academic spectrum make them exemplars of the USC
ideal of breadth with depth. USC College’s Renaissance Scholars were Ramona Davoudpour (biological sciences major with a painting/drawing minor), Daniel Goldman (psychology major with minors in business and philosophy), Sarah Levy (religion, political science and gender studies majors), Michelle Martinez (political science major with a photography minor), Genette McGrew (chemistry major with minors in sculpture and East Asian languages and cultures), Henry Mecke (computer engineering and computer science major with a French minor), Anita Scotti (psychology and creative writing majors), valedictorian Kavitha Sivaraman and Christina To (chemistry major with a sociology minor). Each will receive $10,000 toward graduate study.
At satellite ceremonies following commencement, the Dean’s Prize for
Undergraduate Research was presented to College graduating seniors
recognized for their work at April’s Undergraduate Symposium for
Scholarly and Creative Work. Honorees were Kathleen Benton (history and political science majors), Emily Fetting (history), Karina Godoy (history and political science majors with a sociology minor), Meredith Goldin (psychology and Spanish), Renaissance Scholar Daniel Goldman, Anna Maria Maglunog (religion and neuroscience), Brigid McManama (American literature and political science) and Krystal Sly (chemistry and economics).
Travel Grants
Five of six USC students named Fulbright scholars for 2006–07 are from
the College. The fellowships, awarded by the U.S. State Department,
allow students to study abroad. Undergraduate winners are: John Leisure of political science and history (Japan); Amanda Weiss, East Asian studies and film production (China); and Andrew Orihuela of comparative literature and music (Uruguay). Graduate winners are Alexander Avina, history Ph.D. candidate, (Mexico), and Kaitlin Solimine of East Asian studies (China).
Mellon Scholars
As part of its efforts to increase diversity in the professoriate, in
1993 the Mellon Foundation established the Andrew W. Mellon Mays
Undergraduate Fellowship at USC, supporting academically gifted
students from underrepresented groups who intend to become university
professors. The 2006 fellows were Raquel Chavez (sociology and urban applied anthropology majors), Shauna France (history), Tamiel Holloway (anthropology and international relations), Vanessa Hongsathavij (philosophy and American studies and ethnicity), Adriana Resendez (communication and American studies and ethnicity) and Ebenge Usip (physics).
Sociology’s Star Students
College students took two major awards at the spring meeting of the Pacific Sociological Association. Doctoral candidate Sarah Stohlman
won the Outstanding Graduate Student Paper Award for her “At Yesenia’s
House: Central American Immigrant Pentecostalism, Congregational
Homophily, and Religious Innovation in Los Angeles.” Lexi Shiovitz,
a sophomore sociology major, won the Outstanding Undergraduate Paper
Award for her “Predatory Self-Esteem Boosting and the Creation of the
Gifted Identity.”
Schaefer Scholars
Nine College students received 2006 Dean Joan Metcalf Schaefer
Scholarships. The scholarships are named for the beloved former USC
dean of women, Joan Metcalf Schaefer, and awarded to students who have
demonstrated, through scholarly excellence, a continuous love of
learning. College scholarship winners were political science doctoral
student Archana Agarwal and undergraduates Lauren DePaepe (creative writing), Paul Dooley (mathematics and music composition), Christina Frenzel (psychology and cinema), Daryl W. Li (economics and business), Douglas Mason (physics and music), Christine Matsuda (comparative literature), Aleksandar Petrakiev (computer science and the mathematics B.S./M.A. program) and Joyce Sutedja (creative writing and music industry).
Wonderland Award
Natasha Alvandi, a doctoral
student in the College’s English department, won a USC Wonderland Award
for her manuscript, “Dinah’s Adventures Underground.” The Wonderland
Award, sponsored by the USC Libraries, is a multidisciplinary
competition encouraging new scholarship and creative work related to
Lewis Carroll. As first-prize winner, Alvandi will receive $1,500, and
her manuscript will join other Wonderland winning works in USC’s G.
Edward Cassady and Margaret Elizabeth Cassady Lewis Carroll Collection.
Art History First
Linda Nolan, a doctoral student
in art history, received an Institutional Fellowship in the History of
European Art from the Kress Foundation, making her the first USC
student to receive this prestigious two-year award. Nolan will pursue
research for her dissertation, “Can You Handle It: The Tactile
Reception of Sculpture in Early Modern Rome,” at the Bibliotheca
Hertziana in Rome, Italy.
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