Photos by Ann Tong
DKU held its fourth annual Academic Awards ceremony on Friday, April 27.
The opening remarks from Dean of Undergraduate Studies Marcia France described the ceremony as an opportunity to acknowledge DKU’s top academic performers from this year. France, who will be leaving her position as Dean at the end of this semester to take up a position as Provost at a Vietnamese University, emphasized that while the ceremony could not recognize every student by name, she recognizes the collective efforts of all students in the 2023-24 academic year.
Photo by Ann Tong
The list of First Year Student Academic Awards winners nominated and chosen by division professors can be found below:
Natural Science – Integrated Science Course: Agne Juozulynaite
Natural Science – Foundational Level Mathematics Course: Yuhan Wei
Arts and Humanities Course: Yuzhen Dai
Social Sciences: Valeriya Alexeykina
Chinese as a Second Language: Ella Guidry
English for Academic Purposes: Gele Cheng
In addition to student awards, the student body was invited to nominate the top-performing professor of the year, which went to EAP and WOC Professor Junyi Li. She emphasized in her acceptance speech that she believes every day in the classroom is a chance for herself and her students to touch the future, and she hopes her students keep “learning to make a difference in the world, one lesson at a time”.
For each Animating Principle of the DKU Undergraduate Curriculum, an award was given to a senior student nominated by students and faculty. The list of winners can be found below:
Animating Principles – Rooted Globalism: Nino Nadirashvili
Animating Principles – Collaborative Problem-Solving: Weijia Zhang
Animating Principles – Research and Practice: Yueqian Lin
Animating Principles – Lucid Communication: Darpan Barua
Animating Principles – Independence and Creativity: Shiran Yuan
Animating Principles – Wise Leadership: Tanushree Kochar
Animating Principles – A Purposeful Life: Trailokaya Raj Bajgain
Photo by Ann Tong
The Office of Student Affairs gave awards to undergraduate students who showed passionate engagement with the DKU community. The list of winners is below:
Community Service: Yuxiang Lin
Diversity and Inclusion: Faith Ho
Emerging Student Leader of the Year: Mateja Bokan
Event/Program of the Year: Young Leaders of Global Health Medical English Program
Health and Wellness: MediHealth Podcast
Student Affairs Staff Member of the Year: Patrick Dayton
Student Leader of the Year: Yuxiang Lin
Academic Student Organization of the Year: DKU Programming Contest Club
Arts and Culture Student Organization of the Year: Deja Blue A Cappella Group
Community Service Student Organization of the Year: Young Leaders of Global Health
General Interest Student Organization of the Year: Sustainable DKU
Photo by Ann Tong
In her closing remarks, France emphasized the difficulty faculty faced in choosing a winner for each award, saying for every award given there were “even more students who [also] deserved it”.
