Celebrating Accomplishments

GAMBIER, Ohio (April 12, 2005) The Kenyon community came together on Tuesday, April 12, to celebrate the accomplishments of students, teachers, and mentors at the annual Honors Day convocation.

Highlighting the event was the awarding of the Trustee Teaching Excellence Awards. This year they went to Associate Professor of Russian Natalia L. Olshanskaya and Professor of Mathematics Carol Schumacher. The trustee awards are presented each year to one tenured or tenure-track faculty member who has been teaching at the College for fewer than ten years and one who has been teaching at Kenyon for ten years or more.

Olshanskaya was praised for her dedication to students and was credited with helping to revitalize the College's Russian program. Schumacher, who was honored with the senior trustee teaching award, was recognized for her ability to explain concepts thoroughly and praised for her "infectious love" of mathematics.

The Robert J. Tomsich Science Award was awarded to Mo Hunsen, assistant professor of chemistry, and to Jun Ma, Class of 2005. The Tomsich award is a cash prize given in recognition of scientific excellence in past and current research and contributions to the strength of research efforts at the College.

Many students were recognized for superior achievement, winning a variety of honors. Awards included the nationally administered Goldwater Scholarships, given to students in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering; the Paul Newman Trophy and Joanne Woodward Trophy, given to drama students; the humanitarian award; and the E. Malcolm Anderson Cup, given to the student who has done the most for Kenyon in the current year. Additionally, Kenyon named 36 Honors Scholars who will receive scholarships based on academic achievement, leadership ability, and community involvement. (View the complete list of Honors Day award winners.)

In addition to those awards, honorary doctoral degrees were conferred upon three people. Recipients included Bruce W. Duncan, Class of 1973, president and chief executive officer of Equity Residential Properties Trust in Chicago, Illinois; Debra S. Lunn, Class of 1973, a pioneer in computer fabric design who makes and sells her fabrics worldwide; and Allan Keller, a social studies teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Cleveland, Ohio, who played an instrumental role in building the Kenyon Academic Partnership (KAP) and serves as the program's codirector.