Tower-Summer-2016

6-7 / 32

Summer 2016 | TOWER 7 6 TOWER | Summer 2016
KUTZTOWN DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
NAMES FIRST PRESSER SCHOLAR
KOLVITES NAMED NATIONAL STUDENT OF THE
YEAR FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED EDUCATION
Caption
Dr. Jeremy Justeson, chair, KU Department of Music, presents
Joseph Coco ’17 with the university’s first Presser Scholar Award.
Front Row, L to R: Bob Mazzerle ’66, Ron Cardinal ’68, Vic Tucci ’68, Fran Bolez ’69,
Bill Moyer ’67 and Bob Delong ’67; Back Row, L to R: Denny McKernan ’67, John Landis ’67,
John Cresswell ’69, Peter Riffle ’68, John Leeser ’67, Larry Bare ’69 and Ed Koch.
Jessica Kolvites ’16 is honored at commencement by Dr. Kenneth Hawkinson for
being the university’s Syed R. Ali-Zaidi Award nominee.
2016 ANNUAL ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
Kutztown University celebrated the recipients of its annual Academic Achievement Awards in April.The award was established
through a donation provided by Dr. Carlson R. Chambliss, professor emeritus, physical sciences and KU faculty member from
1970–2003.The purpose of the awards is to recognize the exceptional individual achievements of a select group of KU graduating
seniors. Specially designed coin medallions of gold, silver and copper were presented to the students.
Kutztown University Department of Music
has announced music education major Joseph Coco
’17 of Topton, Pa., as the first Presser Scholar at KU.
Funded through a grant fromThe Presser Foundation,
the Presser Scholar is awarded to an outstanding music
student finishing his or her junior year and at least
one-third of the student’s credits over four years must
be outside the field of music. Only institutions with
recognized, high-quality music programs are consid-
ered for Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award.
Kutztown University teacher of the visually impaired
student Jessica Kolvites has been selected by the Division
on Visual Impairments and Deafblindness to receive the Virginia M.
Sowell Student of the Year Award. This award is given to students
who the organization feels demonstrates a commitment to the edu-
cation and/or rehabilitation of individuals with visual impairments
and deafblindness.The award itself is named after Dr. Virginia
Sowell, whose lifetime contributions to the profession impacted the
lives of numerous educators and countless children and adults with
visual impairments and deafblindness. Kolvites was also named the
KU nominee for the Syed R.Ali-Zaidi Award for Academic Excellence.
1966 BASEBALL CHAMPIONS REUNITED
Members of the 1966 conference champion Kutztown State College baseball team gathered on campus in April
to celebrate the fiftieth reunion of their award-winning season.The championship was the first for the Golden Bears baseball team.
GOLD MEDAL RECIPIENTS
David Grow, York, Pa., graduated with a degree in environmental
science/biology. Grow received the Gold Chambliss Student
Academic Achievement Award 2016 in the category of success-
fully completed research projects. Grow’s research has included
documenting the location and size of invasive plant populations
along hundreds of miles of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail
in Pennsylvania and providing management and sustainable stew-
ardship information to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and
the National Parks Service, among has presented his
research at KU, a regional conference and a national ecological con-
ference and is preparing a manuscript for received
the Carole and Ray Neag Undergraduate Research Fund Grant
to present his research at the 100th Annual Ecological Society of
America Conference, the KU Promise Scholarship and an Eagle
Scouts is a member of the KU Biology Mentor-
ing Program and the KU Outdoors Club, and has been a member
of the Dean’s List for every semester of his time at KU.Grow has
secured a graduate student position at Towson University, with an
ultimate goal to secure a faculty position as an ecologist or conser-
vation biologist.
Breann Young of Dallastown, Pa., graduated with her bachelor’s
degree in fine arts with a focus on painting in May. Young received
the Gold Chambliss Student Academic Achievement Award
2016 in the category of successfully completed research projects
and original artwork of high quality. In pursuing a future career
in conservation, she acquired an internship with the Smithsonian
National Museum of Natural History, and chronicled her work
experience in two blog publications on Smithsonian websites.
Her work was also selected to be included in Professional Artist
magazine and in the book,“Earn Internships, Secure Employment:
a Practical Guide toWriting for theWorkplace”byWilliamPrystauk.
She has shown her artwork at four exhibitions on campus and
appeared in national publications. Young was a member of the
Dean’s List for the majority of her semesters spent at KU, and
she received the Undergraduate Research Committee Grant, the
Marguerite Bierman Grant, the Sharadin Award and the PSECU
Scholarship. She has also served as the director of Eckhaus on
Main Street and volunteered at the Miller Art Gallery on campus.
Young plans to pursue a career at the Smithsonian in the pale-
ontology division and to also acquire a master’s degree in object
conservation.
SILVER MEDAL RECIPIENTS
Anna Behm, Kutztown, Pa.
Mary Kate Henry, Bethlehem, Pa.
Benjamin Hoffman, Hatboro, Pa.
Lauren Sobczak, Fogelsville, Pa.
COPPER MEDAL RECIPIENTS
Lisamarie Feliciano, Allentown, Pa.
Wesley Hartmann,Hyde Park,
Johannesburg, South Africa
Corrine Kula, Allentown Pa.
Matthew Kuna, Allentown, Pa.
Joseph Scoboria, Reading, Pa.
Danielle Sienko, Philadelphia, Pa.
Front Row, L to R: Joseph Scoboria, Anna Behm, Corrine Kula, David Grow, Lisamarie Feliciano, Breann Young and Lauren Sobczak.
Back Row, L to R: Wesley Hartmann, Danielle Sienko, Matthew Kuna, Benjamin Hoffman and Mary Kate Henry.