April 10, 2012

President’s student engagement scholarship winners announced

President Glassner has announced the winners of the President’s Scholarship for Student Engagement. The recipients are Kerri Finnegan ’14, an environmental studies major, and Tyler Janzen ’14, who is majoring in international affairs.

President Glassner has announced the winners of the President’s Scholarship for Student Engagement. The recipients are Kerri Finnegan ’14, an environmental studies major, and Tyler Janzen ’14, who is majoring in international affairs.

Announced last fall, the one-time student engagement scholarship provides two $10,000 awards to students with sophomore standing in 2011-12 for use in their junior year. It is renewable for the senior year based on continued excellence.

The scholarship honors students for exemplary engagement with the liberal arts inside and outside the classroom. In announcing the scholarship competition last fall, Glassner noted that sophomore year is a time when college students are sometimes tempted to disengage. The award is meant to recognize students who are especially vigorous in their engagement with the full liberal arts experience and to encourage them in their continued devotion to that endeavor.

Both student winners are present and future RAs, and they both volunteer with the Portland-based Start Making a Reader Today (SMART) literacy program. Janzen is a student-government senator, a member of the College Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee and Lewis & Clark speech and debate team, and a volunteer for the Model United Nations program. Finnegan writes for the Pioneer Log student newspaper, cocaptains the rugby team, volunteers in the Womyn’s Center, serves on the Watzek Student Advisory Committee, is founder and coordinator of the college roller derby group, and helps organize the annual Environmental Affairs Symposium.

A committee of emeriti faculty made up of Nicole Aas-Rouxparis, Roger Nelsen, and Jean Ward assisted President Glassner in selecting the awardees.

“Faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences nominated outstanding students for this award,” Glassner said. “I’m grateful to them and to the advisory committee. Congratulations to Kerri and Tyler for winning these highly selective scholarships. They understand deeply and appreciate fully the richness of the liberal arts experience.”