Graduate-Professional Student Congress Holds Annual Awards Ceremony, Inaugurates New Leadership Team

Shane White

Newly elected GPSC cabinet, at-large members, and advisor, PJ Martinez

The Graduate-Professional Student Congress wrapped up its first year as a newly autonomous body with executive and at-large elections and the annual GPSC Award Ceremony.

For the upcoming 2019-20 academic year James "JD" DiLoreto-Hill, a graduate student in clinical mental health and doctoral student in public policy, was elected to be president. Nicole Doyle, a doctoral student in public health, was elected vice president. Katherine Dzurilla, a doctoral student in space and planetary science, was elected treasurer. Cody Chivers, a doctoral student in cell and molecular biology, was elected secretary.

The following individuals were elected to represented their respective colleges (three seats per college/school):

• School of Law: Lauren Ford, Jesse Kloss, and Kate Wyly
• College of Education and Health Professions: Tiffany Marcantonio, Scott Wright, and Ian O'Rourke
• Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Dylan Larkin, Kadesha Treco, and Bradley Borges
• J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences: Aijbola Bakare
• Graduate School and International Education: Rachel Slank
• Walton College of Business: Henry Rice
• College of Engineering: Tai Huynh, Johnathan Blanchard, Juan Martinez Castro

In addition to inaugural festivities, the GPSC honored several individuals for their unique contributions to the Graduate-Professional Student Congress and graduate education this past academic year.

• Civic Ally of the Year: The Honorable Nicole Clowney - Arkansas House of Representatives
• Faculty Ally of the Year: Sarah Hernandez, assistant professor - College of Engineering
• Administrative Ally of the Year: Lori Lander - assistant vice chancellor for campus life and assistant dean of students
• Staff Ally of the Year: PJ Martinez - Assistant Director for Student Government Leadership
• Research Award: Tiffany Marcantonio - doctoral candidate in public health
• Alex Marino Service Award: James "JD" DiLoreto-Hill - graduate student in clinical mental health and doctoral student in public policy
• Outreach Award: Johnathan Blanchard - doctoral candidate in civil engineering
• Excellence in Graduate Education: Campus Leadership
  • Carole Shook - doctoral student in higher education
  • James "JD" DiLoreto-Hill - graduate student in clinical mental health and doctoral student in public policy
• Excellence in Graduate Education: GPSC Government Service
  • James "JD" DiLoreto-Hill - graduate student in clinical mental health and doctoral student in public policy
• Second Annual Graduate Research Competition Awards:
  • Oral Presentation:
    • First Place: Catherine Dobbins - Presentation Title: Experiential Service Learning and Reflection:  What International Experiences Can Teach Us About How We Learn
    • Second Place: Glory Okpiaifo - Presentation Title: Assessing Consumer Preferences of Sustainability Attributes in the Nigerian Rice Industry
  • Poster Presentation:
    • First Place: Megan Rosa-Caldwell - Presentation Title: Mitochondrial aberrations during the progression of disuse atrophy differentially affect male and female mice
    • Second Place: Seongkyun Lim - Presentation Title: Atrophy-related genes are differentially expressed during progression of disuse-induced atrophy in male and female mice

The Graduate-Professional Student Congress also honored and thanked Jennifer Oramous, a doctoral graduate in curriculum and instruction, for her service as this year's GPSC secretary and Arley Ward, a doctoral candidate in history, for his service as the body's president. Their leadership was essential to GPSC's success in representing U of A graduate and professional students.