UVa-Wise honors students at 2009 Academic Awards Ceremony

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise recognized the scholastic achievements of nongraduating students during the Academic Awards Ceremony on April 27.

EDUCATION

Alicia Jones of St. Paul received the Jack M. Holland Award, presented to a rising senior who shows remarkable potential as a future elementary school teacher. The award is named in honor of the former chair of the Department of Education and Professor of Education at the College.

Sally Ann Smith of Clintwood received the Lois P. Lowry Award in Language Arts, presented to the student who has demonstrated outstanding academic performance, creative ability and great promise as a future teacher in the field of language arts.

HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY

Misty Bledsoe of Gate City and Alaina Noland of Elizabethton, Tenn., each received the Clinch Valley College History Fund Award recognizing history majors who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement.

Tamara Haack of Stephens City, Kendra Miller of Wise and Steven Osborne of Abingdon each received an Edward L. “Buck” Henson, Jr. History Scholarship. Henson was a devoted and valued member of the College’s history faculty at for 33 years. This scholarship in his memory is awarded to students recommended by the history faculty as outstanding junior history majors.

Jerrod Alex Boggs of Pound and Christopher DeMatteo of Virginia Beach each received a Heather Markusich Scholarship. A 1989 graduate of the College, Markusich was an exemplary history major. The summer following her graduation, and just before her departure for graduate school, she was fatally injured in an automobile accident on her way to work at the Pentagon. A flood of memorial contributions came to the College from all over the country, sufficient to establish a permanently endowed scholarship in her memory. The scholarship is awarded to history majors of unusual talent and promise.

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

Joy Bryant of Wise received the Language and Literature Award for Spanish, which recognizes outstanding work in Spanish language and literature, both that of Spain and Latin America. Bryant received the award for her outstanding work on the presentation of women in medieval Spanish literature.

Bruce Blansett of Haysi and Joel Sprinkle of East Stone Gap each received a Frances Currie Peake Scholarship. Frances Currie Peake taught in the mountains of Tennessee and instilled in her students and her children a love of literature. The Frances Currie Peake Scholarship is awarded to rising junior or senior English majors who have demonstrated excellence in literary studies.

NATURAL SCIENCES

Mary Katherine Phipps of Abingdon received the CRC Freshman in Chemistry Award, awarded to the student judged by the chemistry faculty to be the most outstanding in freshman chemistry.

NURSING

Nicole Danielle Carter of Pennington Gap and Nicole Lea Fones of Palmyra each received a Velta Collins Holyfield Memorial Scholarship. Family members and friends established the scholarship in 1991 shortly after Mrs. Holyfield’s death. Mrs. Holyfield graduated from the University of Virginia School of Nursing in 1957 and served the health care community in Wise for many years as a noted teacher and nurse. The Department of Nursing honors Mrs. Holyfield by awarding scholarships to nursing students who exhibit academic achievement, leadership potential, motivation and the talent to achieve excellence in nursing practice.

SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Joshua Sturgill of Pound received the Achievement in Administration of Justice award, which honors the commitment and hard work of an administration of justice major in the field of law enforcement.

VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS

Mary Elena Register of Suffolk and Vicente Rosa of Appalachia each received the Musicianship Award, which recognizes music majors who not only have excelled as performers in the past academic year, but also demonstrated the strongest work ethic and dedication to the study of their principal instruments.

Brandon Alford of Galax received the Music Leadership Award, which recognizes the music student who has best exemplified commitment, cordiality and competence in their leadership role in the Division of Music during the past academic year.

The only branch campus of the University of Virginia, UVa-Wise is ranked among the nation’s top ten public liberal arts colleges by U.S. News and World Report. UVa-Wise offers Virginia's only undergraduate degree in software engineering, among 28 other degrees and professional programs in the liberal arts tradition of Thomas Jefferson.

                                                                                                     Posted May 12, 2009