College of Arts & Sciences Awards | Honors Convocation

College of Arts & Sciences Awards, 2023-2024

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Departmental Named Awards

Departmental Named Awards are special awards created by departments to recognize students' specific achievements. Each award has its own criteria and significance, as explained below, and students are chosen by departmental faculty.

Art & Design

The Marva Jolly Memorial Award for Excellence in Crafts

The Marva Jolly Memorial Award is presented annually to an Art major who shows great promise in the field of crafts. This award was established to honor Marva Jolly who was an Assistant Professor of Ceramics in Art & Design.

Sarah Ramirez

Biological Sciences

Earl E. Sherff Memorial Award

This award is named in honor of former Biology department chair, Earl E. Sherff, to recognize an outstanding undergraduate Biology student.

Madalyne Juarez

The Edward C. Collin Memorial Award

This award is named in honor of former Biology department chair, Edward C. Collin, to recognize an outstanding undergraduate Biology student.

Denesha Gorman

Herbert E. Smith Memorial Award

The Herbert E. Smith Memorial Award was established in his memory to honor minority science majors who have demonstrated outstanding scholarship and intend to pursue graduate studies in the biological and physical sciences.

LaGail Jennett

Marian Wilson-Comer Award

This award is given to an undergraduate Biology student who has demonstrated extensive departmental service and/or participation in student groups.

Vivian Cox

Scheinbuks Scholars Award

This award is named in honor of Julian Scheinbuks, a former Lecturer in the Department of Biology and is merit based. Students must have a strong GPA and show a commitment to scholarship and service.

Vivian Cox

Tritinity Thomas

Valeria Vizcaino

Madalyne Juarez

Luis Garcia

Denesha Gorman

LaGail Jennett

Walter P. Trost Memorial Award

This award is given to an undergraduate Biology student who has demonstrated extensive departmental service and/or participation in student groups.

Ebony Banks

Chemistry, Physics & Engineering Studies

American Chemical Society Award in Analytical Chemistry

The American Chemical Society, Division of Analytical Chemistry, sponsors this award to recognize a student with aptitude for a career in the field. The recipient receives a subscription to the journal, Analytical Chemistry.

Meisha Daniels

Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering Studies Student Leadership Award

This honor is awarded to seniors majoring in chemistry, physics or engineering studies who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in student organizations and service to the department.

N'Mari Ward

Herbert E. Smith Memorial Award

Qiana Thornton

CRC Press Freshman Chemistry Achievement Award

This award is given in recognition of outstanding academic performance by a freshman chemistry student.

Meisha Daniels

Persistence Award in Chemistry

This honor is given to a chemistry major who has exhibited true perseverance and determination in the completion of their degree.

Kevin Bulley

Outstanding Graduating Senior in Chemistry

This award is given in recognition of the student’s potential achievement in the chemical professions on the basis of his/her demonstrated record of leadership ability, character, and scholastic achievement.

Saige Thor

Outstanding Physics Award for Beginning Majors

This award recognizes students’ hard work and accomplishments at Chicago State University and more broadly in the fields of Physics and Engineering.

Kennedy Whitlow

N'Mari Ward

Thomas Sieka

Lazlo Toth

Sigma Pi Sigma National Physics Honor Society

Sigma Pi Sigma exists to honor outstanding scholarship in physics; to encourage interest in physics among students at all levels; to promote an attitude of service of its members towards their fellow students, colleagues, and the public; and to provide a fellowship of persons who have excelled in physics. Sigma Pi Sigma's mission is not completed in the induction ceremony with the recognition of academic accomplishment. In the four dimensions of honor, encouragement, service, and fellowship, the mission of Sigma Pi Sigma takes a longer view.

Gabriel Brown

The POLYED Award for Achievement in Organic Chemistry

The Polyed Award for Achievement in Organic Chemistry is sponsored by the Joint Polymer Education Committee of the American Chemical Society to recognize achievement in organic chemistry by undergraduate chemistry majors.

Kayla Branch

Communications, Media Arts & Theatre

Creative Achievement Award in Media Arts & Theatre

This award is granted to graduating seniors in the Department of Communications, Media Arts & Theatre who have shown outstanding creative achievement in Media Arts and Theatre.

Phillip Parker
Phoenyx Goosby
Amber Maddox

Creative Achievement Award in Theatre

This award is granted to students in the Department of Communications, Media Arts & Theatre who have shown outstanding creative achievement in Theatre.

Daisy Robinson

Special Recognition in Public Relations

This award is granted to graduating seniors in the Department of Communications, Media Arts & Theatre who have shown outstanding achievement in the field of public relations.

Khadijah Taylor
Shapaira Willis

Computing, Information and Mathematical Sciences, and Technology

The Katherine Johnson Innovation Award

The Katherine Johnson Innovation Award is awarded to a graduate or an undergraduate in mathematics or in computer science as a recognition of his/her innovation resulting in public good; in forming a start-up; in mentoring peers towards paths of upward mobility; or in engaging in social entrepreneurship or in activities which have/had substantial social or economic impact on our surrounding areas, the State, or beyond. The contributions of the recipient must involve substantial mathematics or computer science applications.

Priya Dugyala

Outstanding Achievement Award in Computer Science

This award is given to the students who maintained a 4.0 GPA in the Computer Science graduate program.

Santosh Kumar Dasari

Shiva Sai Bandari

Lalan Kumar Reddy Chinaganta

Sai Sindhusha Jogi

Ravindhar Meka

Keerthana Mittakola

Laxmi Rohini Mosam

Mahiya Nizam

Mounika Palakurthi

Rupesh Rachapalli

Sandeep Sangem

Vijaya Krishna Reddy Sunkara

Durga Vikas Thota

Sireesha Vutukuru

Outstanding Achievement Award in Computer Science – Undergraduates

This award is given to the undergraduate computer science students who have maintained a 3.5 and above GPA.

D'Kaila Price

Outstanding Achievement Award in Library and Information Science

This award is presented in recognition of outstanding achievement during their graduate studies in Library and Information Science. These students have maintained a 4.0 GPA.

Barak Blackburn

Tareai Dwaunna Johnson

Maricela Kim

Andrea Lara

Mackenzie Leverton

Rebecca Reece

Criminal Justice, Philosophy, & Political Science

The Excellence in Criminal Justice Award

This award is conferred at Chicago State University’s Annual Honors Convocation to outstanding graduating seniors who have a GPA of 3.5 or higher in their criminal justice courses and an overall GPA of 3.00 or higher, and who have contributed to the criminal justice program or the administration of criminal justice through their service to the department, college, university or community.

Colin M. Armistead

Geography, Sociology, History, and African American Studies

Herbert Rau Award in Geography

The Herbert Rau Geography Graduate Award is in memory of Dr. Herbert Rau, a former professor in the Geography Program who had a positive impact on his many students in the graduate Geography Program over the years. The award is given annually to a graduate student who maintains an exceptional commitment to the discipline and demonstrates excellence in geographic inquiry.

Matthew Pawlowski

Jacob H. Carruthers Award

This award is given to a student who demonstrates an outward display of continental African knowledge and practices.

Kori Riley

Joseph Chada Memorial Graduate Award

The Joseph Chada Memorial Award is presented to a history graduate student who shows great promise of scholarly achievement in historical research.

Samantha Affram

The Africana Studies MA’AT Award

This award is given to an Africana Studies major who has maintained high scholarship of at least a 3.0 GPA (cumulative) and has demonstrated the characteristics of MA'AT in her life. These characteristics are truth, harmony, balance, justice, reciprocity, integrity, and propriety. MA'AT epitomized the moral/ethical principles of the ancient Kemetic African society.

Taylor McRoberts

Vernon Brockman Award

The Vernon Brockman Scholarship was established in honor of former geography program chairperson Vernon Brockman, and is awarded to an outstanding undergraduate student who demonstrates promise for future success in the field of geography.

Adriana Reyes

The W.E.B. DuBois Sociology Award

This award is presented to a senior-level sociology major who has demonstrated academic promise and success and who embodies the principles of sociological inquiry.

Laura Baptiste

Social Work

Gladys Scott Community Service Award

This award recognizes an outstanding Chicago State University Master of Social Work student and continues the legacy of Gladys Scott, a dedicated community and political activist and motivational group worker from Chicago’s Hyde Park. Dr. Doris Perry, Director of the Chicago State MSW program from 1998 to 2006, established the scholarship in her mother’s memory in 2001.

Michael Lewis

Dr. Mikal Rasheed Scholarship

This award, initiated by the Alumni of the MSW program at Chicago State University, recognizes an outstanding Chicago State University Master of Social Work student and continues the legacy of Dr. Mikal Rasheed, former Director of the Department of Social Work from which he retired in 2016. Throughout his Social Work Career, Dr. Rasheed was devoted to community activism, men’s mental health, and the complexities and mysteries of spirituality. Dr. Rasheed made his transition on July 7, 2021.

Danielle Bradford

Departmental Honor & Merit Awards

Departmental Merit and Honors Awards are presented to undergraduate students chosen by each department in recognition of the students’ high academic achievement in their particular disciplines. Departments with graduate programs may also present graduate awards to graduate students chosen by the department in recognition of the students’ high academic achievement in their particular fields.

Africana Studies

Certificate of Honor

Taylor McRoberts

Certificate of Merit

Kori Riley

Art & Design

Certificate of Honor

Mary Fountain

Certificate of Merit

Danina Hughes

Pablo Riverio

Sofia Sedovich