2013-2014 Student Successes

Alesia Alexander, an African/African American Studies minor, was awarded a fellowship at the African American Literature and Cultures Institute at the University of Texas, San Antonio.

Honors College students, Mario Amaya-Velazquez, Samantha Batdorff, Anthony Clemons, Michael Dykstra, Mary Hoekje, Bailey Tucker and Liberal Studies student Morgan Olson received the Gilman Scholarship.

Ross Argir, a Religious Studies major, was presented the Outstanding Student Award in Religious Studies.

Christine Bectal, a Middle Eastern Studies minor, received the Padnos Study Abroad Scholarship to study German in Munich, Germany.

Ricky Benavidez, a Women and Gender Studies minor who served as Student Senate president, received a Thomas M. Seykora Award for his outstanding contributions to improve the campus community.

Michelle Bouwkamp, a Chinese Studies major, received the University Major Award for her excellent performance in Chinese Studies courses.

Allie Bouza, Honors College student, received the Goldwater Scholarship honorable mention.

Anthony Clemons, Sociology and Women and Gender Studies major, earned the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad in South Africa.

Youssef Darwich, an Environmental Studies minor and Sustainable Agriculture Project intern, won the West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum 2014 Future Green Leaders competition.

Abigail DeHart, Honors College student, received the prestigious DeKarman Fellowship.

Derrell Haygood, a Liberal Studies major, is an intern for the new Grand Rapids Drive minor league basketball team.  Haygood has worked to create team awareness on campus and in West Michigan. Click here to learn more about this story.

Joseph Hogan, Honors College student, received the Meijer Honors Outstanding Senior Award.

Jepkoech Kottutt, a Women and Gender Studies major, received the Jean Enright award presented by Women and Gender Studies.

David Leestma, a Middle Eastern Studies minor, was awarded the nationally competitive Boren Scholarship and the Padnos Study Abroad Scholarship to study at Birzeit University in the West Bank. Additionally, Leestma was selected to go on a student study trip to Saudi Arabia by the National Council on US-Arab Relations.

Danielle Meirow, a Women and Gender Studies major, earned the Niemeyer Award and the Venderbush Award. Meirow was also named the Outstanding Student by the Women and Gender Studies Program and Outstanding Student Senator by the Student Senate.

Kyle Meppelink, a Middle Eastern Studies minor, received the Padnos Study Abroad Scholarship to study Arabic in the West Bank.

Morgan Olson, a Liberal Studies major, earned the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship to study abroad in Ghana.

Xinyi Ou, Honors College student and Dean’s Office Student Assistant, and Mary Banghart Therrien, Professor of Social Work, presented “Getting the Straight Scoop: Strategies for Working with LGBTQ Youth in Child Welfare” at a conference hosted by the State Court Administrative Office.  Ou was also selected as the History Department’s Outstanding Student.

Seth Price, Honors College student, received the Critical Language Scholarship.

Julia Raap, a Women and Gender Studies major, won an Outstanding Student Award presented by the Women’s Center.  Raap also was named the Volunteer of the Month for December by the Community Service Learning Center and presented research at the American Popular Culture Association meetings in April.

Mark Switzer, Sustainable Community Development Initiative Web Editor and Student Office Assistant, received the Graduate Dean’s Citation for Excellence award, the Outstanding Graduate Student in the School of Counseling award, and a Graduate Showcase award.

Stephanie Tanis, a first year Honors College student, won first place in the 2014 Students Reinventing Michigan Competition for her proposal entitled, Combating Childhood Obesity.

Alexis Van Haitsma, a Religious Studies major, was presented the first Outstanding Research Award in Religious Studies at the Religious Studies and Liberal Studies senior showcase.

Seven writing consultants from the Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors presented at the East Central Writing Center Association conference at Miami University in Ohio.

  • “Losing FaceSpace to the Cloud?” by Melanie Rabine
  • “Next Gen Learners and the Knowledge Market: What Writing Consultants Can    Learn” by Yah-Hanna Jenkins
  • “Linking Reading and Writing” by Alaina Moreau
  • “An Innovative Approach to Learning in the Knowledge Market” by Megan Rodawold and Jackie Vega
  • “Where in the World is your Thesis?: Consultants as Cultural Translators” by Nicole Fisher and Xinyi Ou

Eleven writing consultants from the Fred Meijer Center for Writing and Michigan Authors presented at the National Conference on Peer Tutoring in Writing at the Berkeley Preparatory School in Tampa, Florida.

  • “Awkward Turtles: Handling Unique Situations in the Center” by Andrew Brown and Lindsey Wolpert
  • “Across Time and Space: Best Practices in Online Consultations” by Rachel Amity and Anna Worm
  • “Rhetoric and the Student-Writer: Strategies for Helping Students Understand and Apply Rhetoric to their Writing” by Joe Hogan and Kevin Joffre
  • “Self-Efficacy: Making Writing A Collaborative Process” by Andrew Brown
  • “Author v. Audience: Whose Needs Are We Addressing?” by Nikki Fisher and Anna Worm
  • “Under Pressure: Removing the Paper to Empower the Student” by Katie Conigliaro and Marissa Kobe


Page last modified August 10, 2018