Department of Communication Honors Undergraduate Excellence at Awards Ceremony

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Ivette Walton accepts the Virgil and Lillian Baker Scholarship

At its annual awards ceremony on April 21, the Department of Communication recognized undergraduate excellence by announcing this year's scholarship recipients, presenting the 2022 Athens Scholars and inducting new members into the Lambda Pi Eta Honors Society.

This year's recipients of the Virgil and Lillian Baker Scholarship were Ivette Walton and Emma Williams. Trinity Barnes was awarded the M. Blair Hart Scholarship. These scholarships were established in honor of former professors in the department for students with competitive scholarship, leadership, school activities or college service record.

Department of Communication Undergraduate Director Matthew Spialek had the honor of announcing the 2022 Athens Scholars. To be recognized as an Athens Scholar, a student must be a graduating senior communication major who has maintained at least a 3.75 cumulative GPA at the U of A. This year's Athens Scholars are:

• Lily Arbuckle
• Scott Atkinson
• Katie Bittiker
• Ashtyn Bogue
• Sarah Boll
• Nastassja Campbell
• Madison Dedrick
• Carissa Demma
• Elizabeth Duke
• Peyton Fourt
• Julianne Haley
• Allison Hayes
• Isabel Hoffmann
• Sarah Ioder
• Tiffany Mazur
• Madeline McCulloch
• Nicole McEnroe
• Megan Oswald
• Lauren Restino
• Emily Rothmiller
• Kayla Tazik
• Grace Willis
• Amanda Young

Introduced by the society's adviser Jake Dionne, Lambda Pi Eta's student officers, Nastassja Campbell and Hannah Rodlund, led the induction of new members. LPH, the National Communication Association's official honor society, started under the direction of professor emeritus Steven A. Smith at the U of A in 1985. This means our LPH members get the distinguished honor of being part of the Alpha Chapter. There are now over 500 active LPH chapters around the country. The Spring 2022 inductees are:

• Brooklyn Baum
• Kyler Broach
• Jessica Bumgarner
• Abigail Davis
• Isabella Couch
• Avery Coward
• Hayley Van Dyne
• Grace Gilbert
• Trinity Fox
• Sarah Ioder
• Natalie Kelly
• Paige L. Mahoney
• Mary Claire McNabb
• Alexa Payne
• Emily Phomsopha
• Olivia Powers
• Emily Rothmiller
• Tiffany Mazur
• Meino Tschirhart

Spialek, who planned the event, reflected, "We were thrilled to be able to hold our annual awards ceremony in person for the first time since Spring 2019. These exceptional students have worked so hard and adapted to the challenges brought on by the pandemic. It was nice to gather together to celebrate their success."