The U Alumni Association awarded more than $34,000 in scholarships to exceptional students and honored faculty and alumni for the coming year.
Scholarship recipients were honored at an annual awards banquet hosted by the Alumni Association and the Young Alumni Board on Tuesday evening, which played a large role in bringing in scholarship money for students with its Homecoming 5K, held on the day of the Homecoming football game.
With sponsor donations and runners’ fees combined, the board raised $34,800, which was awarded in scholarships to incoming freshmen, outstanding seniors, young alumni scholars and alumni association scholars who have received high grades and volunteer in their community, said Jeremy Barlow, president of the Young Alumni Board, and one of the hosts for the spring banquet.
Michele Mattsson, president of the Alumni Association, told incoming students to get ready for a motivating and worthwhile experience at the U and encouraged other scholarship recipients to stay connected to the U after graduating.
The U also presented two larger awards to an outstanding faculty member and an alumnus.
The Alumni Association awarded Barry Shultz, chairman of the exercise and sport science department, the Philip and Miriam Perlman Excellence in Student Counseling Award.
Shultz, one of many faculty members nominated for the honor, was chosen because of the time he selflessly devotes to advising and encouraging students, Mattsson said.
“There are so few awards that recognize their work,” Mattsson said. “We’re rewarding the people who are the unsung heroes on campus.”
Shultz has taught at the U for 27 years and is the faculty member students in his department go to when they have questions or concerns, said Heather Cooke, chair of the Alumni Association awards and scholarship committee.
Edward Morrison, a law professor at Columbia University, was awarded the Par Excellence Award. Morrison graduated from the U in 1994 with a degree in economics and accounting. He then went on to receive a law degree and doctorate degree in economics from the University of Chicago, said Angie Carter, co-chair of the Young Alumni Awards and Scholarship Committee.
Morrison, 37, was chosen for this honor because of the accomplishments he achieved at his young age, which include serving as a judicial clerk for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and testifying before Congress in February about the financial crisis in the United States, Carter said.
Morrison said he was honored to receive the award and attributes his success to the many professors at the U who guided and encouraged him throughout his education here.
“What these (professors) gave me was a model of selflessness,” Morrison said. “I hope to inspire students as much as they inspired me.”
Since he graduated from the U, Morrison has been “plunging into the future and not really looking back,” he said.
Receiving this award helped Morrison recall his roots and realize that the skills and ambitions he has now are “rooted in concrete moments” he had at the U, he said.
The Spring Awards Banquet is an annual event and honors different students, faculty and alumni each year.
“We want to pass on what we got in our educations to (students),” Mattsson said.
Nate SorensenBarry Shultz receives the Perlman Excellence in Student Counseling Award at the U Alumni Association?s Spring Awards banquet.